Handelsbanken Fonder AB Acquires 1,600 Shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its holdings in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 23.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,551 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,600 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Qualys were worth $1,098,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in Qualys in the 4th quarter valued at $18,844,000. Roberts Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Qualys in the first quarter valued at about $863,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its stake in Qualys by 96.4% in the first quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 30,656 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $5,116,000 after purchasing an additional 15,045 shares in the last quarter. Cim LLC bought a new stake in Qualys during the fourth quarter worth about $1,465,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Qualys by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,756,297 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $737,286,000 after buying an additional 16,331 shares in the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,339 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.35, for a total value of $191,945.65. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 58,947 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,450,052.45. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Qualys news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 616 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.93, for a total transaction of $82,500.88. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 87,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,662,222.61. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,339 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.35, for a total value of $191,945.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 58,947 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,450,052.45. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 11,535 shares of company stock valued at $1,594,720. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on QLYS. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Qualys from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 3rd. Scotiabank cut their target price on Qualys from $167.00 to $150.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Qualys from $165.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Qualys from $170.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Wedbush reduced their price objective on Qualys from $190.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $147.00.

Qualys Price Performance

NASDAQ:QLYS opened at $125.59 on Friday. Qualys, Inc. has a one year low of $119.32 and a one year high of $206.35. The company has a market cap of $4.64 billion, a PE ratio of 29.07 and a beta of 0.46. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $125.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $141.53.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $1.52 EPS 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 analyst estimates of $148.80 million. Qualys had a net margin of 29.36% and a return on equity of 44.80%. Qualys’s revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.95 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.94 EPS for the current year.

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.