Axa S.A. Decreases Stock Position in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

AXA S.A. trimmed its position in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) by 43.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,747 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 7,342 shares during the quarter. AXA S.A.'s holdings in Qualys were worth $1,367,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in QLYS. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Qualys in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Qualys during the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Qualys by 88.1% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 333 shares of the software maker's stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Qualys in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in Qualys by 33.9% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 391 shares of the software maker's stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 99 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.31% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.17, for a total transaction of $995,190.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 246,144 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $34,994,292.48. This represents a 2.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jeffrey P. Hank sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.93, for a total value of $515,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 12,666 shares in the company, valued at $1,633,027.38. This trade represents a 24.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 31,156 shares of company stock worth $4,164,721. 0.88% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

QLYS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Loop Capital decreased their price target on shares of Qualys from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Qualys from $131.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Qualys from $120.00 to $90.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Northland Securities reissued a "market perform" rating and set a $146.00 price objective (down previously from $150.00) on shares of Qualys in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their target price on shares of Qualys from $163.00 to $158.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $137.50.

Qualys Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of Qualys stock traded down $1.17 on Friday, reaching $132.31. 341,413 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 387,708. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.81 billion, a PE ratio of 28.45 and a beta of 0.61. Qualys, Inc. has a 1-year low of $112.61 and a 1-year high of $170.00. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $125.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $136.24.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The software maker reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $159.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $157.05 million. Qualys had a return on equity of 38.52% and a net margin of 28.59%. Qualys's revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.45 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 EPS for the current year.

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.