Empowered Funds LLC Invests $1.51 Million in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 10,752 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $1,508,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in Qualys by 33.9% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 391 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in Qualys by 56.2% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 439 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in Qualys by 53.6% in the third 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 last quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Qualys in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $91,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Qualys by 68.6% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 730 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $94,000 after acquiring an additional 297 shares during the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Qualys

In other news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,332 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.37, for a total transaction of $209,616.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 113,652 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,885,415.24. This represents a 1.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 8,555 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.62, for a total transaction of $1,322,774.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 64,032 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,900,627.84. This trade represents a 11.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 29,288 shares of company stock worth $4,209,716 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on QLYS shares. Wolfe Research upgraded Qualys from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. StockNews.com upgraded Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Scotiabank decreased their price target on Qualys from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price target on Qualys from $170.00 to $163.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Loop Capital decreased their price target on Qualys from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Qualys presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $146.57.

Qualys Price Performance

NASDAQ:QLYS opened at $143.76 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.26 billion, a PE ratio of 30.92 and a beta of 0.56. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $141.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $135.37. Qualys, Inc. has a 12 month low of $119.17 and a 12 month high of $174.31.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.16). Qualys had a net margin of 28.59% and a return on equity of 39.64%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Qualys, Inc. will post 4.31 EPS for the current year.

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.