Cerity Partners LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Cerity Partners LLC cut its position in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,577 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 118 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Qualys were worth $702,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of QLYS. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Qualys in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Qualys by 218.2% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 210 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in shares of Qualys by 54.1% during the third quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 282 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of Qualys by 353.8% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 422 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 329 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Park Place Capital Corp raised its position in shares of Qualys by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 733 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $112,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on QLYS shares. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Qualys in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $170.00 target price on the stock. Truist Financial upped their target price on Qualys from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Qualys from $146.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Wedbush cut their price objective on Qualys from $230.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of Qualys in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $153.23.

Qualys Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:QLYS opened at $171.54 on Wednesday. Qualys, Inc. has a 12-month low of $107.00 and a 12-month high of $206.35. The business has a 50 day moving average of $166.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $175.53. The company has a market capitalization of $6.34 billion, a PE ratio of 42.46 and a beta of 0.51.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The software maker reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.26. Qualys had a net margin of 27.34% and a return on equity of 49.06%. The firm had revenue of $144.57 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $144.69 million. Equities research analysts predict that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 4,120 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.62, for a total transaction of $690,594.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 194,481 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,598,905.22. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Qualys news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 4,120 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.62, for a total transaction of $690,594.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 194,481 shares in the company, valued at $32,598,905.22. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 4,034 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.96, for a total value of $661,414.64. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 193,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,743,967.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 13,349 shares of company stock worth $2,214,032. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

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.