Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) Shares Purchased by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its stake in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 707.7% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 63,000 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 55,200 shares during the quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s holdings in Qualys were worth $8,984,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of QLYS. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its position in Qualys by 151.0% during the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 3,700 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $726,000 after purchasing an additional 2,226 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its position in Qualys by 247.9% during the fourth quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 8,172 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,604,000 after purchasing an additional 5,823 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its position in Qualys by 18.9% during the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 16,320 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $3,209,000 after purchasing an additional 2,599 shares during the last quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in Qualys during the fourth quarter worth approximately $549,000. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in Qualys by 67.5% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 350 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Qualys Price Performance

NASDAQ QLYS opened at $124.62 on Wednesday. Qualys, Inc. has a 12 month low of $119.32 and a 12 month high of $206.35. The company has a market capitalization of $4.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.85 and a beta of 0.46. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $129.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $145.00.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $148.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $148.80 million. Qualys had a net margin of 29.36% and a return on equity of 44.80%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.95 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.94 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.15, for a total value of $1,002,050.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 186,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,711,933.15. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.15, for a total value of $1,002,050.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 186,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,711,933.15. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,339 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.35, for a total transaction of $191,945.65. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 58,947 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,450,052.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,535 shares of company stock valued at $1,609,023 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Qualys from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 3rd. Northland Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $140.00 price objective (down from $150.00) on shares of Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Qualys from $170.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Westpark Capital reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $147.83.

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.