Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) Shares Bought by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 17.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 20,724 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,132 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp owned 0.06% of Qualys worth $2,955,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Qualys by 2.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,839,801 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $640,748,000 after buying an additional 83,504 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its position in shares of Qualys by 9.8% during the 2nd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 809,014 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $115,365,000 after acquiring an additional 72,261 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Qualys by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 739,205 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $145,095,000 after purchasing an additional 21,439 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Qualys by 50.9% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 501,847 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $83,743,000 after purchasing an additional 169,293 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Qualys by 0.8% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 439,434 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $62,663,000 after purchasing an additional 3,357 shares during the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on QLYS shares. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Qualys from $170.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Qualys from $180.00 to $150.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Northland Securities restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $140.00 target price (down previously from $150.00) on shares of Qualys in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price target on Qualys from $167.00 to $150.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $147.83.

Qualys Stock Performance

NASDAQ QLYS opened at $123.72 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.64 and a beta of 0.46. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $134.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $149.09. Qualys, Inc. has a one year low of $119.32 and a one year high of $206.35.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $148.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $148.80 million. Qualys had a net margin of 29.36% and a return on equity of 44.80%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.95 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Qualys

In other news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.32, for a total transaction of $954,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 186,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,437,448.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 616 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.93, for a total value of $82,500.88. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 87,077 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,662,222.61. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.32, for a total transaction of $954,240.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 186,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,437,448.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 18,769 shares of company stock valued at $2,617,377 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Qualys 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.