Insider Selling: Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) Insider Sells 855 Shares of Stock

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) insider Bruce K. Posey sold 855 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.24, for a total transaction of $121,615.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 63,177 shares in the company, valued at $8,986,296.48. This represents a 1.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Qualys Stock Performance

Qualys stock traded down $1.59 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $139.14. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 225,667 shares, compared to its average volume of 436,172. Qualys, Inc. has a 12 month low of $119.17 and a 12 month high of $205.00. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $141.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $135.75. The company has a market capitalization of $5.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.65 and a beta of 0.54.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The software maker reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.23. Qualys had a return on equity of 40.24% and a net margin of 28.72%. The business had revenue of $153.87 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $150.74 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.24 earnings per share. Qualys’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Qualys, Inc. will post 4.34 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of Qualys by 149.0% in the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 239 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Qualys in the second quarter valued at $40,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its position in shares of Qualys by 53.6% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 639 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $82,000 after acquiring an additional 223 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Qualys by 68.6% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 730 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $94,000 after purchasing an additional 297 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of Qualys by 21.6% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,091 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $140,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on QLYS. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Qualys from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Needham & Company LLC assumed coverage on Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on Qualys from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Qualys from $150.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Qualys from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Qualys presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $152.80.

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.