Bank of America Corp DE Purchases 77,663 Shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) by 35.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 296,438 shares of the software maker's stock after buying an additional 77,663 shares during the quarter. Bank of America Corp DE owned approximately 0.81% of Qualys worth $41,567,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of QLYS. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Qualys during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Qualys during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its position in Qualys by 88.1% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 333 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 156 shares during the period. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Qualys in the fourth quarter valued at $54,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in shares of Qualys by 33.9% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 391 shares of the software maker's stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the period. 99.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on QLYS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Qualys from $122.00 to $117.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Wedbush dropped their price objective on Qualys from $160.00 to $145.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Qualys from $131.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Qualys from $145.00 to $130.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Qualys from $120.00 to $90.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $137.50.

Insider Activity at Qualys

In other Qualys news, Director Jeffrey P. Hank sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.93, for a total transaction of $515,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 12,666 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,633,027.38. This trade represents a 24.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.81, for a total value of $866,670.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 246,313 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,496,012.53. The trade was a 2.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 15,127 shares of company stock worth $1,905,108. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Qualys Stock Down 0.4%

NASDAQ:QLYS traded down $0.62 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $137.46. 26,019 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 381,957. Qualys, Inc. has a 12 month low of $112.61 and a 12 month high of $170.00. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $127.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $136.88. The company has a market capitalization of $4.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.56 and a beta of 0.61.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The software maker reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $159.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $157.05 million. Qualys had a net margin of 28.59% and a return on equity of 38.52%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.45 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Qualys Company 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.