Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Makes New Investment in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,945 shares of the software maker's stock, valued at approximately $273,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Qualys by 101.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 112,214 shares of the software maker's stock worth $14,415,000 after acquiring an additional 56,613 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in Qualys by 33.9% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 391 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Qualys by 26.2% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,968 shares of the software maker's stock worth $253,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of Qualys by 58.0% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,724 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $242,000 after purchasing an additional 633 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its holdings in shares of Qualys by 62.5% during the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 52,024 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $7,295,000 after buying an additional 20,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.31% of the company's stock.

Qualys Trading Down 2.9%

QLYS stock traded down $4.16 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $138.40. 314,766 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 379,582. Qualys, Inc. has a 52-week low of $112.61 and a 52-week high of $170.00. The stock has a market cap of $5.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.76 and a beta of 0.61. The stock's 50-day moving average is $128.88 and its 200 day moving average is $136.18.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The software maker reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $159.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $157.05 million. Qualys had a return on equity of 38.52% and a net margin of 28.59%. Qualys's revenue was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.45 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Qualys

In other news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 246,313 shares of the company's stock, valued at $30,496,012.53. This represents a 2.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,358 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.87, for a total transaction of $169,573.46. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 105,740 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,203,753.80. This trade represents a 1.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,627 shares of company stock worth $3,062,802. 0.88% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on QLYS shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on 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 price target on shares of Qualys from $122.00 to $117.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Scotiabank set a $142.00 price objective on Qualys and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Northland Securities reissued a "market perform" rating and set a $146.00 price objective (down previously from $150.00) on shares of Qualys in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Loop Capital cut their price objective on shares of Qualys from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Qualys currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price 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.