Bruce K. Posey Sells 1,443 Shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) Stock

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,443 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.33, for a total transaction of $241,457.19. Following the sale, the insider now owns 62,614 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,477,200.62. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Qualys Stock Performance

Shares of Qualys stock traded up $0.57 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $172.11. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 355,692 shares, compared to its average volume of 461,837. Qualys, Inc. has a one year low of $107.00 and a one year high of $206.35. The company has a market capitalization of $6.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.59 and a beta of 0.51. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $166.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $175.60.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) 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. Qualys had a net margin of 27.34% and a return on equity of 49.06%. The firm had revenue of $144.57 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $144.69 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

QLYS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Qualys from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Wedbush cut their target price on shares of Qualys from $230.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Qualys in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $170.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Qualys from $212.00 to $180.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of Qualys in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Qualys currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $153.23.

Institutional Trading of Qualys

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Qualys by 1,094.1% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 20,551 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $3,429,000 after purchasing an additional 18,830 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its holdings in Qualys by 1,666.7% during the first quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 159 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in Qualys by 2.9% during the first quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 10,600 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,769,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. purchased a new stake in Qualys during the first quarter worth about $1,111,000. Finally, Norden Group LLC increased its holdings in Qualys by 1,806.6% during the first quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 81,871 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $13,662,000 after buying an additional 77,577 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

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.