Insider Selling: Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) CEO Sells 8,500 Shares of Stock

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 8,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.30, for a total value 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 approximately $32,434,220.60. The trade was a 3.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Qualys Price Performance

Shares of Qualys stock traded up $1.75 on Thursday, hitting $140.15. 84,763 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 378,416. The company has a fifty day moving average of $128.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $136.18. Qualys, Inc. has a one year low of $112.61 and a one year high of $170.00. The company has a market capitalization of $5.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.14 and a beta of 0.61.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The software maker reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $159.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $157.05 million. Qualys had a return on equity of 38.52% and a net margin of 28.59%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.45 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qualys

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in QLYS. Amalgamated Bank increased its position in Qualys by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 16,640 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $2,333,000 after buying an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Qualys by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 5,749 shares of the software maker's stock worth $806,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Cim LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Qualys by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Cim LLC now owns 8,561 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,078,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in shares of Qualys by 33.9% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 391 shares of the software maker's stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Michigan Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Qualys by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 8,776 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,105,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.31% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on QLYS. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Qualys in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Scotiabank set a $142.00 price objective on Qualys and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Wedbush lowered their price objective on Qualys from $160.00 to $145.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Northland Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating and set a $146.00 target price (down from $150.00) on shares of Qualys in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Qualys from $122.00 to $117.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $137.50.

About Qualys

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.