Verity Asset Management Inc. Purchases New Shares in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Verity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 2,855 shares of the software maker's stock, valued at approximately $360,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of QLYS. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Qualys by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 456,540 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $64,016,000 after acquiring an additional 3,848 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Qualys during the fourth quarter valued at $15,937,000. Aurora Investment Counsel purchased a new position in shares of Qualys during the fourth quarter worth about $2,243,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its stake in Qualys by 151.2% in the 4th 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 stake in Qualys by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 100,357 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $14,072,000 after acquiring an additional 14,170 shares during the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on QLYS shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Qualys from $120.00 to $90.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Qualys from $131.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price target on shares of Qualys from $163.00 to $158.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Wedbush reduced their price target on Qualys from $160.00 to $145.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Qualys from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Sunday, June 22nd. Three equities research 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Qualys has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $137.50.

Qualys Price Performance

Qualys stock traded up $7.23 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $151.21. 361,810 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 369,955. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.92 and a beta of 0.62. The business has a 50 day moving average of $136.28 and a two-hundred day moving average of $134.47. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The software maker reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.21. Qualys had a net margin of 29.19% and a return on equity of 38.05%. The firm had revenue of $159.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $157.05 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.45 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 8,500 shares of the firm's 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 237,962 shares in the company, valued at $32,434,220.60. This trade represents a 3.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Jeffrey P. Hank sold 4,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.93, for a total value of $515,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 12,666 shares in the company, valued at $1,633,027.38. The trade was a 24.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 33,630 shares of company stock valued at $4,461,516 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company's stock.

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.