10,893 Shares in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) Purchased by SG Americas Securities LLC

SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 10,893 shares of the software maker's stock, valued at approximately $1,372,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of QLYS. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Qualys during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Qualys in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its holdings in Qualys by 88.1% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 333 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Qualys in the 4th quarter valued at about $54,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Qualys by 246.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 973 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $123,000 after acquiring an additional 692 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.31% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Qualys

In other Qualys news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 14th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at $30,496,012.53. This trade represents a 2.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 524 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.38, for a total transaction of $67,795.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 65,053 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,416,557.14. This represents a 0.80% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,472 shares of company stock valued at $3,181,068 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Qualys from $145.00 to $130.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price objective on shares of Qualys from $163.00 to $158.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Qualys from $131.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective 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. Finally, Wedbush cut their price objective on shares of Qualys from $160.00 to $145.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $137.50.

Qualys Stock Performance

NASDAQ:QLYS opened at $139.24 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.94 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $131.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $135.37. Qualys, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $112.61 and a fifty-two week high of $170.00.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $159.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $157.05 million. Qualys had a net margin of 28.59% and a return on equity of 38.52%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.45 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.

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