Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 12.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,089 shares of the software maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Qualys were worth $153,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH grew its holdings in shares of Qualys by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 154,440 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $21,656,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares during the period. Empirical Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Qualys during the fourth quarter worth approximately $225,000. West Coast Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Qualys by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. West Coast Financial LLC now owns 23,323 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $3,270,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Qualys by 36.3% in the fourth quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC now owns 4,833 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $678,000 after acquiring an additional 1,287 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Qualys by 40.1% in the 4th quarter. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,177 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $445,000 after acquiring an additional 910 shares during the period. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Qualys Stock Performance

Shares of Qualys stock opened at $139.73 on Friday. Qualys, Inc. has a 1 year low of $119.17 and a 1 year high of $192.09. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $144.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $135.80. The firm has a market cap of $5.11 billion, a PE ratio of 30.78 and a beta of 0.57.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

QLYS has been the subject of a number of research reports. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Qualys from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Qualys from $150.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Wolfe Research upgraded Qualys from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on Qualys from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Qualys from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Qualys currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $152.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Qualys news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.66, for a total transaction of $1,047,620.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 225,453 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,741,295.98. This represents a 3.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Jeffrey P. Hank sold 4,000 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.31, for a total transaction of $585,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 12,666 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,853,162.46. This trade represents a 24.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 31,259 shares of company stock worth $4,578,153 over the last ninety days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.