Marshall Wace LLP Makes New Investment in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 29,920 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $4,267,000. Marshall Wace LLP owned 0.08% of Qualys at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in Qualys by 121.9% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 360,294 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $70,719,000 after acquiring an additional 197,911 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Qualys by 50.9% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 501,847 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $83,743,000 after purchasing an additional 169,293 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. boosted its stake in Qualys by 169.7% in the 1st quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 245,522 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $40,970,000 after purchasing an additional 154,492 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Qualys by 95.7% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 286,005 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $40,771,000 after buying an additional 139,897 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in Qualys during the 4th quarter worth $18,844,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

QLYS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wedbush reduced their target price on shares of Qualys from $190.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Northland Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $140.00 target price (down from $150.00) on shares of Qualys in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Truist Financial cut their price target on Qualys from $165.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. StockNews.com lowered Qualys from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Qualys from $116.00 to $115.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Qualys presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $147.83.

Qualys Stock Down 1.2 %

Qualys stock opened at $126.94 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $4.69 billion, a PE ratio of 29.38 and a beta of 0.46. Qualys, Inc. has a 12-month low of $119.32 and a 12-month high of $206.35. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $128.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $143.77.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.95 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,330 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.80, for a total value of $164,654.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 55,618 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,885,508.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.15, for a total transaction of $1,002,050.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 186,601 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,711,933.15. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,330 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.80, for a total transaction of $164,654.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 55,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,885,508.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 11,535 shares of company stock valued at $1,609,023. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.