Principal Financial Group Inc. Decreases Position in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its position in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 24.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 107,342 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 35,644 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.29% of Qualys worth $13,789,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Qualys by 46.0% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,685 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $281,000 after acquiring an additional 531 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Qualys by 4.9% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 8,668 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,446,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares during the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Qualys by 60.2% during the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 18,449 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $3,079,000 after purchasing an additional 6,932 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL raised its position in shares of Qualys by 19.6% during the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 31,158 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $5,199,000 after purchasing an additional 5,113 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Qualys by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,839,801 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $640,748,000 after buying an additional 83,504 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Qualys Price Performance

Qualys stock opened at $145.52 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $5.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.05 and a beta of 0.47. Qualys, Inc. has a 12 month low of $119.17 and a 12 month high of $206.35. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $128.88 and its 200-day moving average is $135.49.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The software maker reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.23. Qualys had a net margin of 28.72% and a return on equity of 40.24%. The firm had revenue of $153.87 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $150.74 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.24 earnings per share. Qualys’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Qualys, Inc. will post 4.34 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,330 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The shares were 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. This represents a 2.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 634 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $122.19, for a total transaction of $77,468.46. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 85,942 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,501,252.98. The trade was a 0.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 10,919 shares of company stock valued at $1,360,140. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on QLYS shares. Wedbush dropped their price target on Qualys from $190.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Qualys from $120.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Qualys from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Qualys from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 3rd. Finally, Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys 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 given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.