Quantbot Technologies LP Acquires 15,866 Shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Quantbot Technologies LP increased its position in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 51.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 46,726 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,866 shares during the quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP’s holdings in Qualys were worth $6,552,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Qualys by 1,386.2% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 355,699 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $49,876,000 after acquiring an additional 331,766 shares in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp increased its stake in Qualys by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,049,623 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $147,178,000 after buying an additional 123,530 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Qualys in the 4th quarter valued at $15,937,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its position in Qualys by 208.5% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 86,187 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $11,072,000 after acquiring an additional 58,252 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Qualys by 101.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 112,214 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $14,415,000 after purchasing an additional 56,613 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Qualys in a research report on Tuesday. They set an “underweight” rating and a $120.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Qualys from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Qualys from $162.00 to $135.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price target on Qualys from $170.00 to $163.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $146.00 price target (down previously from $150.00) on shares of Qualys in a report on Monday, February 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $146.14.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.49, for a total transaction of $941,430.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 225,453 shares in the company, valued at $30,321,173.97. This trade represents a 3.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,635 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.64, for a total value of $226,676.40. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 112,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,530,036.88. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 26,595 shares of company stock worth $3,691,922. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Qualys Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of QLYS opened at $127.92 on Friday. Qualys, Inc. has a 12 month low of $119.17 and a 12 month high of $174.20. The company’s fifty day moving average is $135.99 and its 200-day moving average is $136.05. The firm has a market cap of $4.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.51 and a beta of 0.56.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.16). Qualys had a return on equity of 38.52% and a net margin of 28.59%. As a group, research analysts predict that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Qualys 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.