California Public Employees Retirement System Purchases 122,168 Shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) by 172.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 193,056 shares of the software maker's stock after acquiring an additional 122,168 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.52% of Qualys worth $37,893,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Qualys by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,739,966 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $570,532,000 after acquiring an additional 45,867 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. MA increased its position in shares of Qualys by 5.0% during the third quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 1,137,107 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $173,466,000 after buying an additional 54,219 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Qualys by 1.5% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 887,988 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $135,463,000 after buying an additional 12,794 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Qualys by 2.6% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 570,957 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $87,099,000 after buying an additional 14,273 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Qualys by 2.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 517,735 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $78,980,000 after buying an additional 10,946 shares during the period. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Qualys Stock Performance

QLYS traded up $0.62 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $170.36. The stock had a trading volume of 261,623 shares, compared to its average volume of 349,589. The company has a market cap of $6.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.17 and a beta of 0.51. The business has a fifty day moving average of $166.55 and a 200 day moving average of $175.60. Qualys, Inc. has a 1 year low of $107.00 and a 1 year high of $206.35.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The software maker reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $144.57 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $144.69 million. Qualys had a return on equity of 49.06% and a net margin of 27.34%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Stephens reiterated an "equal weight" rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of Qualys in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Qualys from $146.00 to $152.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Qualys in a report on Friday. They set a "sector perform" rating and a $172.00 price objective for the company. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Qualys in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. They set a "market perform" rating and a $170.00 price objective for the company. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Qualys from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, April 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Qualys has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $154.57.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 4,120 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.62, for a total transaction of $690,594.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 194,481 shares of the company's stock, valued at $32,598,905.22. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 4,120 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.62, for a total transaction of $690,594.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 194,481 shares of the company's stock, valued at $32,598,905.22. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 4,034 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.96, for a total value of $661,414.64. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 193,608 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $31,743,967.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 14,792 shares of company stock valued at $2,455,489. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.