Synovus Financial Corp Raises Stake in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Synovus Financial Corp raised its position in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 16.3% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 16,772 shares of the software maker’s stock after buying an additional 2,356 shares during the quarter. Synovus Financial Corp’s holdings in Qualys were worth $2,155,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Qualys by 1.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,246,562 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $160,957,000 after purchasing an additional 20,038 shares in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its holdings in Qualys by 14.5% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 926,093 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $118,966,000 after buying an additional 117,079 shares during the last quarter. CDAM UK Ltd lifted its holdings in Qualys by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. CDAM UK Ltd now owns 502,913 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $64,604,000 after buying an additional 38,509 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in shares of Qualys by 15.3% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 474,100 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $67,607,000 after acquiring an additional 63,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Qualys by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 439,434 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $62,663,000 after acquiring an additional 3,357 shares during the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Qualys

In other Qualys news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 634 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.19, for a total value of $77,468.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 85,942 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,501,252.98. This represents a 0.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 8,555 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.62, for a total transaction of $1,322,774.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 64,032 shares in the company, valued at $9,900,627.84. The trade was a 11.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 31,190 shares of company stock worth $4,449,290 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Qualys Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ QLYS opened at $147.54 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $139.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $135.52. Qualys, Inc. has a 1-year low of $119.17 and a 1-year high of $206.35. The company has a market cap of $5.40 billion, a PE ratio of 32.50 and a beta of 0.54.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The software maker reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $153.87 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $150.74 million. Qualys had a net margin of 28.72% and a return on equity of 40.24%. Qualys’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.24 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Qualys, Inc. will post 4.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Qualys from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Qualys from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on shares of Qualys from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Qualys from $120.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Qualys from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $152.80.

About Qualys

Qualys, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides cloud-based platform delivering information technology (IT), security, and compliance solutions in the United States and internationally. It offers Qualys Cloud Apps, which include Cybersecurity Asset Management and External Attack Surface Management; Vulnerability Management, Detection and Response; Web Application Scanning; Patch Management; Custom Assessment and Remediation; Multi-Vector Endpoint Detection and Response; Context Extended Detection and Response; Policy Compliance; File Integrity Monitoring; and Qualys TotalCloud, as well as Cloud Workload Protection, Cloud Detection and Response, Cloud Security Posture Management, Infrastructure as Code, and Container Security.