Brevan Howard Capital Management LP Buys 11,545 Shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Brevan Howard Capital Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) by 631.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,374 shares of the software maker's stock after acquiring an additional 11,545 shares during the period. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP's holdings in Qualys were worth $1,875,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bridgefront Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Qualys by 37.0% during the fourth quarter. Bridgefront Capital LLC now owns 3,515 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $493,000 after acquiring an additional 949 shares in the last quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Qualys in the 4th quarter worth $838,000. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Qualys by 35.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 296,438 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $41,567,000 after acquiring an additional 77,663 shares during the last quarter. BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments acquired a new stake in shares of Qualys in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $10,545,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of Qualys by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 64,241 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $9,008,000 after purchasing an additional 921 shares during the period. 99.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Qualys Stock Up 1.9%

Shares of QLYS traded up $2.50 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $134.81. 94,786 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 386,685. The company has a market cap of $4.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.06 and a beta of 0.61. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $125.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $136.24. Qualys, Inc. has a 12-month low of $112.61 and a 12-month high of $170.00.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was 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 directly owns 246,144 shares of the company's stock, valued at $34,994,292.48. This represents a 2.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 4,542 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.08, for a total value of $636,243.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 108,215 shares in the company, valued at $15,158,757.20. The trade was a 4.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 26,669 shares of company stock worth $3,536,541. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Wedbush lowered their target price on Qualys from $160.00 to $145.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Qualys from $120.00 to $90.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. 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. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price target on shares of Qualys from $163.00 to $158.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Qualys from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, April 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $137.50.

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.