Sanders Morris Harris LLC Takes Position in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Sanders Morris Harris LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 27,665 shares of the software maker's stock, valued at approximately $3,560,000. Sanders Morris Harris LLC owned 0.08% of Qualys as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of QLYS. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC bought a new position in Qualys in the 4th quarter valued at $27,086,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Qualys by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,312,662 shares of the software maker's stock worth $604,721,000 after purchasing an additional 131,339 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp increased its stake in Qualys by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,049,623 shares of the software maker's stock worth $147,178,000 after buying an additional 123,530 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Qualys by 43,505.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 122,530 shares of the software maker's stock worth $15,430,000 after buying an additional 122,249 shares during the period. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in Qualys by 37.5% during the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 423,576 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $59,393,000 after buying an additional 115,427 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.31% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Qualys

In other Qualys news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.30, for a total transaction of $1,158,550.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 237,962 shares of the company's stock, valued at $32,434,220.60. This trade represents a 3.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 524 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.38, for a total transaction of $67,795.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 65,053 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,416,557.14. The trade was a 0.80% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 23,627 shares of company stock valued at $3,062,802 in the last ninety days. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Northland Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and set a $146.00 price target (down previously from $150.00) on shares of Qualys in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley lowered 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. Scotiabank set a $142.00 price target on Qualys and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Qualys from $131.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their price objective on shares of Qualys from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $137.50.

Qualys Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of NASDAQ QLYS traded up $1.85 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $142.56. 237,451 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 380,600. The stock has a market cap of $5.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.66 and a beta of 0.61. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $128.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $136.12. Qualys, Inc. has a 12-month low of $112.61 and a 12-month high of $170.00.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The software maker reported $1.67 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $157.05 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.45 earnings per share. Qualys's quarterly revenue was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 EPS 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.