Park Avenue Securities LLC Acquires 1,174 Shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 21.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,591 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,174 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Qualys were worth $924,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new position in shares of Qualys during the third quarter valued at about $445,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Qualys by 208.5% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 86,187 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $11,072,000 after acquiring an additional 58,252 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Qualys by 428.9% during the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 18,256 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,345,000 after acquiring an additional 14,804 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Qualys by 57.7% during the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 13,672 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,950,000 after acquiring an additional 5,004 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Qualys by 40.0% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 29,015 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $3,525,000 after acquiring an additional 8,291 shares during the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 225,453 shares in the company, valued at $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, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,635 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.64, for a total transaction of $226,676.40. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 112,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,530,036.88. This trade represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 30,377 shares of company stock worth $4,454,973 over the last 90 days. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Qualys Stock Performance

Shares of QLYS opened at $139.74 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $5.11 billion, a PE ratio of 30.78 and a beta of 0.57. Qualys, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $119.17 and a fifty-two week high of $201.03. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $145.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $135.64.

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

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.