Edgestream Partners L.P. Invests $1.78 Million in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new position in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 12,661 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $1,775,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Qualys by 1,386.2% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 355,699 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $49,876,000 after buying an additional 331,766 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp grew its position in Qualys by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,049,623 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $147,178,000 after buying an additional 123,530 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Qualys during the fourth quarter valued at about $15,937,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its position in 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 buying an additional 58,252 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its position in Qualys by 101.8% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 112,214 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $14,415,000 after buying an additional 56,613 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on QLYS. StockNews.com lowered shares of Qualys from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Qualys from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Northland Securities restated a “market perform” rating and set a $146.00 price target (down previously from $150.00) on shares of Qualys in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Loop Capital cut their target price on shares of Qualys from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group cut their target price on shares of Qualys from $170.00 to $163.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $146.57.

Qualys Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of Qualys stock opened at $125.28 on Tuesday. Qualys, Inc. has a 12-month low of $119.17 and a 12-month high of $174.31. The company has a market cap of $4.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.94 and a beta of 0.56. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $137.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $136.08.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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, sell-side analysts predict that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Qualys

In related news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 855 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.24, for a total value of $121,615.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 63,177 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,986,296.48. This trade represents a 1.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,635 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 112,017 shares in the company, valued at $15,530,036.88. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 26,926 shares of company stock valued at $3,745,742 over the last three months. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.