Geode Capital Management LLC Grows Holdings in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,246,562 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,038 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Qualys were worth $160,957,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of QLYS. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Qualys by 294.7% during the second quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 225 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in Qualys by 149.0% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 239 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Qualys during the 2nd quarter valued at $40,000. DT Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Qualys during the 2nd quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its stake in shares of Qualys by 53.6% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 639 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $82,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Qualys Trading Down 2.9 %

QLYS stock opened at $147.54 on Monday. Qualys, Inc. has a 1-year low of $119.17 and a 1-year high of $206.35. The stock has a market cap of $5.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.50 and a beta of 0.54. The company’s 50 day moving average is $139.96 and its 200 day moving average is $135.52.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The software maker reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $153.87 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $150.74 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.24 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Qualys, Inc. will post 4.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

QLYS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on shares of Qualys from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Qualys from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Qualys from $150.00 to $162.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Qualys from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $152.80.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,330 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.80, for a total value of $164,654.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 55,618 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,885,508.40. The trade was a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total transaction of $876,470.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 179,649 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,493,851.29. This represents a 3.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 31,190 shares of company stock worth $4,449,290. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.