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 that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.17, for a total transaction of $995,190.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 246,144 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,994,292.48. The trade was a 2.77 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Qualys Price Performance

Shares of QLYS traded up $3.94 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $147.70. The stock had a trading volume of 437,539 shares, compared to its average volume of 391,037. Qualys, Inc. has a 1 year low of $119.17 and a 1 year high of $174.31. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $141.09 and its 200 day moving average is $135.31. The firm has a market cap of $5.40 billion, a PE ratio of 31.76 and a beta of 0.56.

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 net margin of 28.59% and a return on equity of 39.64%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Qualys, Inc. will post 4.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

QLYS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Qualys from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price target on shares of Qualys from $170.00 to $163.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on shares of Qualys from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $146.57.

Institutional Trading of Qualys

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in QLYS. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Qualys by 1,386.2% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 355,699 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $49,876,000 after buying an additional 331,766 shares in the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Qualys during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,086,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Qualys by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,312,662 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $604,721,000 after acquiring an additional 131,339 shares in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Qualys by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,049,623 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $147,178,000 after purchasing an additional 123,530 shares during the period. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake 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 worth $59,393,000 after purchasing an additional 115,427 shares in the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.