Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) Holdings Decreased by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. cut its position in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) by 79.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 71,516 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 284,183 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.20% of Qualys worth $9,006,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Amalgamated Bank raised its holdings in shares of Qualys by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 16,640 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $2,333,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in Qualys by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 5,749 shares of the software maker's stock worth $806,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank lifted its position in shares of Qualys by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 932 shares of the software maker's stock worth $131,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Qualys by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 6,035 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $846,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the period. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Qualys by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 16,902 shares of the software maker's stock worth $2,370,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

QLYS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Qualys from $145.00 to $130.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Wedbush reduced their price objective on Qualys from $160.00 to $145.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Qualys from $122.00 to $117.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price target on Qualys from $163.00 to $158.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Qualys from $120.00 to $90.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $137.50.

Qualys Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of Qualys stock traded down $0.20 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $138.58. The company's stock had a trading volume of 44,368 shares, compared to its average volume of 375,938. The business has a fifty day moving average of $131.41 and a 200 day moving average of $135.48. Qualys, Inc. has a 1-year low of $112.61 and a 1-year high of $170.00. The company has a market capitalization of $5.03 billion, a PE ratio of 29.80 and a beta of 0.61.

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

Insider Activity at Qualys

In other news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.81, for a total transaction of $866,670.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 246,313 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $30,496,012.53. The trade was a 2.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 value of $67,795.12. Following the sale, the insider now owns 65,053 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,416,557.14. This trade represents a 0.80% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 24,472 shares of company stock valued at $3,181,068. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company's stock.

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.