Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) Shares Sold by Vestcor Inc

Key Points

• Vestcor Inc significantly reduced its stake in Qualys, Inc. by 37.5% in Q1, now owning 4,238 shares valued at $534,000.
• Several research firms have downgraded Qualys' price targets, with JPMorgan Chase setting a target of $117.00 and Morgan Stanley lowering it to $90.00.
• Qualys reported earnings of $1.67 per share for the last quarter, exceeding estimates and showing a revenue increase of 9.7% year-over-year.

Vestcor Inc trimmed its stake in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) by 37.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,238 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 2,543 shares during the quarter. Vestcor Inc's holdings in Qualys were worth $534,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in QLYS. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Qualys by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,262,931 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $178,445,000 after buying an additional 16,369 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of Qualys by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 954,583 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $133,852,000 after buying an additional 88,347 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Qualys by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 920,163 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $129,025,000 after buying an additional 38,880 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Qualys by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 571,016 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $80,068,000 after buying an additional 52,256 shares during the period. Finally, Penserra Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Qualys by 53.3% in the 1st quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 499,084 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $62,849,000 after buying an additional 173,512 shares during the period. 99.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on QLYS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Qualys from $122.00 to $117.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Qualys from $120.00 to $90.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Wedbush reduced their price objective on Qualys from $160.00 to $145.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price objective on Qualys from $163.00 to $158.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Scotiabank set a $142.00 price objective on Qualys and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $137.50.

Qualys Stock Performance

Qualys stock opened at $130.53 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $140.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $134.57. The company has a market capitalization of $4.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.69 and a beta of 0.56. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The software maker reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $159.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $157.05 million. Qualys had a return on equity of 38.05% and a net margin of 29.19%. Qualys's revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.45 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Jeffrey P. Hank sold 657 shares of Qualys 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 sale, the director owned 13,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,931,404.16. The trade was a 4.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Wendy Pfeiffer sold 200 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.45, for a total value of $27,890.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 11,282 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,573,274.90. This represents a 1.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 41,580 shares of company stock valued at $5,885,177. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.

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