Arizona State Retirement System Cuts Position in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Arizona State Retirement System lessened its holdings in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 1.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,467 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 201 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Qualys were worth $1,318,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Qualys during the fourth quarter worth $27,086,000. Penserra Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Qualys by 53.3% in the first quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 499,084 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $62,849,000 after buying an additional 173,512 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Qualys by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,312,662 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $604,721,000 after buying an additional 131,339 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Qualys by 43,505.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 122,530 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $15,430,000 after buying an additional 122,249 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in Qualys by 37.5% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 423,576 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $59,393,000 after buying an additional 115,427 shares during the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wedbush cut their price objective on Qualys from $160.00 to $145.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Scotiabank set a $142.00 price target on shares of Qualys and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, June 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Qualys from $145.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Qualys from $131.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $137.50.

Qualys Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ QLYS opened at $139.31 on Friday. Qualys, Inc. has a 52-week low of $112.61 and a 52-week high of $170.00. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $139.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $134.52. The stock has a market cap of $5.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.49 and a beta of 0.62.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The software maker reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.21. Qualys had a net margin of 29.19% and a return on equity of 38.05%. The company had revenue of $159.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $157.05 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.45 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Qualys

In other news, Director Jeffrey P. Hank sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.93, for a total value of $515,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 12,666 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,633,027.38. This represents a 24.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total transaction of $1,791,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 217,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,530,828.50. The trade was a 5.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 46,597 shares of company stock worth $6,517,773 in the last 90 days. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.