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

Cerity Partners LLC lowered its stake in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 3.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,577 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 118 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Qualys were worth $702,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC increased its stake in Qualys by 48.9% in the 4th quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC now owns 25,127 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $4,932,000 after purchasing an additional 8,257 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Qualys by 201,932.8% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 117,179 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $23,000,000 after buying an additional 117,121 shares during the period. First National Bank of Hutchinson raised its holdings in Qualys by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson now owns 3,089 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $606,000 after buying an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Qualys by 31.2% during the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,682 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $330,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in Qualys by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 24,405 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $4,790,000 after acquiring an additional 731 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Qualys Price Performance

Shares of Qualys stock opened at $171.54 on Wednesday. Qualys, Inc. has a 1 year low of $107.00 and a 1 year high of $206.35. The company has a 50-day moving average of $166.38 and a 200 day moving average of $175.53. The firm has a market cap of $6.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.46 and a beta of 0.51.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $144.57 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $144.69 million. Qualys had a net margin of 27.34% and a return on equity of 49.06%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.35 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 4,034 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.96, for a total transaction of $661,414.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 193,608 shares in the company, valued at $31,743,967.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 723 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.76, for a total value of $119,121.48. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 100,289 shares in the company, valued at $16,523,615.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 4,034 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.96, for a total transaction of $661,414.64. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 193,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,743,967.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 13,349 shares of company stock valued at $2,214,032. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

QLYS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Qualys from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of Qualys in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Qualys from $212.00 to $180.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. StockNews.com lowered Qualys from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Qualys from $146.00 to $152.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Qualys has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $153.23.

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.