FORA Capital LLC Boosts Stake in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

FORA Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 52.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,835 shares of the software maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,747 shares during the quarter. FORA Capital LLC’s holdings in Qualys were worth $1,777,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of QLYS. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Qualys by 8.1% in the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,684 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $281,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Qualys in the first quarter valued at $277,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in Qualys by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 49,485 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $8,255,000 after acquiring an additional 742 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in Qualys by 192.8% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 3,402 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $568,000 after acquiring an additional 2,240 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Comerica Bank grew its holdings in Qualys by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 21,380 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $3,568,000 after acquiring an additional 688 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Qualys Price Performance

Shares of QLYS stock opened at $154.68 on Thursday. Qualys, Inc. has a 12-month low of $119.17 and a 12-month high of $206.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.07 and a beta of 0.47. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $133.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $134.91.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Qualys

In other news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was 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 directly owns 225,453 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,741,295.98. This trade represents a 3.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 634 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.19, for a total value of $77,468.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 85,942 shares in the company, valued at $10,501,252.98. This represents a 0.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,919 shares of company stock valued at $2,993,000. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on QLYS shares. StockNews.com downgraded Qualys from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 3rd. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Qualys from $120.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Qualys from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on Qualys from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Qualys from $116.00 to $115.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $152.80.

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.