Retirement Systems of Alabama Grows Position in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its stake in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) by 162.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 147,535 shares of the software maker's stock after buying an additional 91,312 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned 0.40% of Qualys worth $18,579,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Qualys by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 456,540 shares of the software maker's stock worth $64,016,000 after buying an additional 3,848 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Qualys during the fourth quarter worth $15,937,000. Aurora Investment Counsel purchased a new position in Qualys during the fourth quarter worth $2,243,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its position in Qualys by 151.2% during the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 17,258 shares of the software maker's stock worth $2,420,000 after buying an additional 10,387 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in Qualys by 16.4% during the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 100,357 shares of the software maker's stock worth $14,072,000 after buying an additional 14,170 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.31% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Qualys news, Director Jeffrey P. Hank sold 657 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 now owns 13,888 shares in the company, valued at $1,931,404.16. This represents a 4.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 540 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.86, for a total value of $63,644.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 64,513 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,603,502.18. This represents a 0.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 33,105 shares of company stock worth $4,390,137 in the last 90 days. 0.88% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Qualys from $122.00 to $117.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Qualys from $145.00 to $130.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Qualys from $120.00 to $90.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Wedbush decreased their price objective on Qualys from $160.00 to $145.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price objective on Qualys from $163.00 to $158.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Qualys currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $137.50.

Qualys Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of QLYS opened at $135.73 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.76 and a beta of 0.61. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $132.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $134.98. Qualys, Inc. has a twelve month low of $112.61 and a twelve month high of $170.00.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last issued its 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. Qualys had a return on equity of 38.05% and a net margin of 29.19%. The business 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 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

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.

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