Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) Stock Position Reduced by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its position in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 24.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 107,342 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 35,644 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Qualys were worth $13,789,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in QLYS. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in Qualys by 46.0% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,685 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $281,000 after purchasing an additional 531 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Qualys by 4.9% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 8,668 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,446,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares during the period. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Qualys by 60.2% during the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 18,449 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $3,079,000 after purchasing an additional 6,932 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL lifted its position in shares of Qualys by 19.6% in the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 31,158 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $5,199,000 after buying an additional 5,113 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Qualys by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,839,801 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $640,748,000 after buying an additional 83,504 shares during the period. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,339 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.56, for a total transaction of $165,446.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 55,279 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,830,273.24. This trade represents a 2.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 634 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.19, for a total transaction of $77,468.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 85,942 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,501,252.98. This trade represents a 0.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 10,919 shares of company stock worth $1,360,140 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Qualys from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Qualys from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Wolfe Research raised Qualys from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on Qualys from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $152.80.

Qualys Stock Down 2.6 %

QLYS stock opened at $145.52 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $128.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $135.49. The company has a market capitalization of $5.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.05 and a beta of 0.47. Qualys, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $119.17 and a fifty-two week high of $206.35.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The software maker reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $153.87 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $150.74 million. Qualys had a net margin of 28.72% and a return on equity of 40.24%. Qualys’s revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.24 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate 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.