Sumedh S. Thakar Sells 7,000 Shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) Stock

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.17, for a total value of $995,190.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 246,144 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,994,292.48. This represents a 2.77 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Qualys Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ QLYS opened at $145.96 on Thursday. Qualys, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $119.17 and a fifty-two week high of $174.31. The company has a market cap of $5.34 billion, a PE ratio of 31.39 and a beta of 0.56. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $140.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $135.45.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.16). Qualys had a return on equity of 38.52% and a net margin of 28.59%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qualys

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Qualys by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,312,662 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $604,721,000 after acquiring an additional 131,339 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Qualys by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,262,931 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $178,445,000 after purchasing an additional 16,369 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Qualys by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,049,623 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $147,178,000 after purchasing an additional 123,530 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in Qualys by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 954,583 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $133,852,000 after buying an additional 88,347 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in Qualys by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 920,163 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $129,025,000 after buying an additional 38,880 shares during the period. 99.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $146.00 target price (down previously from $150.00) on shares of Qualys in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Loop Capital cut their price objective on shares of Qualys from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Qualys from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com raised Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 15th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price target on Qualys from $120.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Qualys presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $146.57.

Qualys Company Profile

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.