Federated Hermes Inc. Raises Stake in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Key Points

• Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in Qualys, Inc. by 43.4% during the 1st quarter, acquiring an additional 20,833 shares, resulting in ownership of 68,837 shares valued at approximately $8.67 million.
• Qualys reported a quarterly EPS of $1.67, exceeding estimates by $0.21, and reported revenues of $159.9 million, reflecting a 9.7% year-over-year growth.
• Institutional investors now own 99.31% of Qualys stock, indicating a strong presence of large investors in the company.

Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) by 43.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 68,837 shares of the software maker's stock after acquiring an additional 20,833 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. owned approximately 0.19% of Qualys worth $8,669,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. raised its position in Qualys by 82.7% in the first quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 369 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Qualys by 88.1% in 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 last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Qualys in the fourth quarter valued at about $54,000. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in shares of Qualys by 27.9% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 500 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in shares of Qualys by 96.4% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 601 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $76,000 after buying an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.31% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Qualys

In related news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 541 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.11, for a total value of $75,799.51. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 60,643 shares in the company, valued at $8,496,690.73. This trade represents a 0.88% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Jeffrey P. Hank sold 657 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.07, for a total value of $91,368.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 13,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,931,404.16. This represents a 4.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,580 shares of company stock worth $5,885,177 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Qualys Price Performance

QLYS traded down $0.87 on Wednesday, hitting $129.74. 483,878 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 336,513. Qualys, Inc. has a 12 month low of $112.61 and a 12 month high of $170.00. The business has a 50-day moving average of $139.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $134.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.53 and a beta of 0.56.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $164.06 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $161.25 million. Qualys had a net margin of 29.19% and a return on equity of 38.05%. Qualys's revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.52 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on QLYS. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Qualys from $122.00 to $117.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Wedbush raised their target price on shares of Qualys from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Qualys from $142.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Qualys from $90.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Wednesday. Three research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Qualys has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $138.57.

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.