Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) Shares Sold by D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) by 35.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 49,472 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 26,808 shares during the quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned about 0.14% of Qualys worth $6,937,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Qualys by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,312,662 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $604,721,000 after purchasing an additional 131,339 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Qualys by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,262,931 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $178,445,000 after purchasing an additional 16,369 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 123,530 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in Qualys by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 954,583 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $133,852,000 after acquiring an additional 88,347 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Qualys by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 920,163 shares of the software maker's stock worth $129,025,000 after purchasing an additional 38,880 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.31% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 524 shares of the company's 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 transaction, the insider now owns 65,053 shares in the company, valued at $8,416,557.14. This represents a 0.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jeffrey P. Hank sold 4,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.93, for a total transaction of $515,720.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 12,666 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,633,027.38. This represents a 24.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 15,127 shares of company stock worth $1,905,108 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Qualys Stock Performance

QLYS traded down $0.41 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $137.68. 39,453 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 382,015. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $127.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $136.88. The firm has a market cap of $5.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.61 and a beta of 0.61. Qualys, Inc. has a 1 year low of $112.61 and a 1 year high of $170.00.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Qualys had a net margin of 28.59% and a return on equity of 38.52%. The company had revenue of $159.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $157.05 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.45 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on QLYS shares. Wedbush lowered their target price on Qualys from $160.00 to $145.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Qualys from $122.00 to $117.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Qualys from $120.00 to $90.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Qualys from $131.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $137.50.

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.