Blue Trust Inc. Sells 988 Shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Blue Trust Inc. lessened its stake in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 63.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 571 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 988 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Qualys were worth $80,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in shares of Qualys by 33.9% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 391 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its position in Qualys by 56.2% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 439 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Qualys during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $91,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Qualys by 68.6% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 730 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $94,000 after purchasing an additional 297 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Qualys by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,089 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $153,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Qualys Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ QLYS opened at $136.20 on Monday. Qualys, Inc. has a 1-year low of $119.17 and a 1-year high of $174.31. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $140.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $135.56. The firm has a market cap of $4.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.29 and a beta of 0.56.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.16). Qualys had a return on equity of 38.52% and a net margin of 28.59%. Analysts forecast that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Qualys from $120.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Qualys from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Cowen upped their price target on Qualys from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Scotiabank cut their target price on Qualys from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Qualys from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Two 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $146.57.

Insider Buying and Selling at Qualys

In other news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.49, for a total value of $941,430.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 225,453 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,321,173.97. The trade was a 3.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 8,555 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.62, for a total value of $1,322,774.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 64,032 shares in the company, valued at $9,900,627.84. The trade was a 11.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 36,288 shares of company stock worth $5,204,906 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.