Teacher Retirement System of Texas Purchases 26,452 Shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its position in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) by 153.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 43,710 shares of the software maker's stock after acquiring an additional 26,452 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas owned 0.12% of Qualys worth $5,504,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Qualys in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,086,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Qualys by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,312,662 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $604,721,000 after acquiring an additional 131,339 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Qualys by 37.5% in the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 423,576 shares of the software maker's stock worth $59,393,000 after buying an additional 115,427 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Qualys in the 4th quarter worth $15,937,000. Institutional investors own 99.31% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on QLYS shares. Wedbush reduced their price target on Qualys from $160.00 to $145.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Qualys from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Sunday, June 22nd. Scotiabank set a $142.00 target price on Qualys and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Qualys from $145.00 to $130.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group cut their target price on Qualys from $163.00 to $158.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $137.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.47, for a total value of $1,185,495.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 229,962 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,072,800.14. This represents a 3.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 525 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.96, for a total value of $71,379.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 61,184 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,318,576.64. This represents a 0.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 33,468 shares of company stock worth $4,442,070 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Qualys Trading Up 5.0%

Shares of QLYS opened at $151.21 on Monday. Qualys, Inc. has a twelve month low of $112.61 and a twelve month high of $170.00. The stock's 50 day moving average is $137.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $134.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.49 billion, a PE ratio of 30.92 and a beta of 0.62.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $159.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $157.05 million. Qualys had a return on equity of 38.05% and a net margin of 29.19%. The company's revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.45 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 EPS for the current year.

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.

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