Alapocas Investment Partners Inc. Purchases Shares of 53,245 Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Key Points

• Alapocas Investment Partners Inc. acquired 53,245 shares of Qualys, Inc., representing a value of approximately $6.7 million and making it the firm's 12th biggest holding.
• In recent analyst ratings, Morgan Stanley raised its price objective for Qualys to $97 while other analysts have upgraded their price targets, indicating a generally positive outlook with a consensus rating of "Hold."
• Qualys reported a quarterly earnings per share of $1.68, surpassing estimates and showing a 10.3% revenue increase compared to the same period last year.

Alapocas Investment Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 53,245 shares of the software maker's stock, valued at approximately $6,705,000. Qualys accounts for 4.1% of Alapocas Investment Partners Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Alapocas Investment Partners Inc. owned about 0.15% of Qualys as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 156 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Qualys by 82.7% during the first quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 369 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Qualys during the fourth quarter worth approximately $54,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Qualys by 52.4% in the 1st quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 436 shares of the software maker's stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in Qualys by 27.9% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 500 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.31% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Qualys from $90.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded Qualys from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Sunday, June 22nd. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Qualys from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Wedbush lifted their target price on Qualys from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Qualys from $131.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Qualys currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $139.14.

Qualys Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ QLYS opened at $130.33 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $139.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $134.50. Qualys, Inc. has a 1-year low of $112.61 and a 1-year high of $170.00. The firm has a market cap of $4.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.01 and a beta of 0.56.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The software maker reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $164.06 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $161.25 million. Qualys had a return on equity of 37.85% and a net margin of 29.04%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.52 EPS. Analysts forecast that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,018 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.26, for a total value of $134,640.68. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 94,468 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,494,337.68. This represents a 1.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 12,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total transaction of $1,791,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 217,962 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $32,530,828.50. This represents a 5.22% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 42,598 shares of company stock valued at $6,019,818 in the last ninety days. 0.88% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.

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