HighTower Advisors LLC Purchases 80 Shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,749 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Qualys were worth $806,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Qualys in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Qualys in the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in 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 during the period. Quarry LP boosted its stake 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. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Qualys during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $91,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Loop Capital lowered their price target on shares of Qualys from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Northland Securities restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $146.00 target price (down from $150.00) on shares of Qualys in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Qualys in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $120.00 price target for the company. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price objective 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, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a report on Monday, February 10th. 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $146.14.

Insider Activity

In other Qualys news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 882 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.66, for a total transaction of $123,180.12. Following the sale, the insider now owns 62,295 shares in the company, valued at $8,700,119.70. This trade represents a 1.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 225,453 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,321,173.97. This trade represents a 3.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 26,595 shares of company stock worth $3,691,922. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Qualys Price Performance

NASDAQ QLYS opened at $130.13 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $135.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $136.24. Qualys, Inc. has a 1 year low of $119.17 and a 1 year high of $174.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.75 billion, a PE ratio of 27.99 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%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 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.