Citigroup Inc. Increases Stake in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Citigroup Inc. lifted its position in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 40.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 60,146 shares of the software maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,440 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc. owned 0.16% of Qualys worth $7,726,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Qualys Stock Performance

QLYS stock opened at $153.60 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $134.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $135.08. Qualys, Inc. has a one year low of $119.17 and a one year high of $206.35. The firm has a market cap of $5.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.83 and a beta of 0.47.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The software maker reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $153.87 million during 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.24 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Qualys, Inc. will post 4.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Qualys news, Director Jeffrey P. Hank sold 4,000 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.31, for a total transaction of $585,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 12,666 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,853,162.46. The trade was a 24.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total value of $876,470.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 179,649 shares in the company, valued at $22,493,851.29. This represents a 3.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 21,919 shares of company stock valued at $2,993,000. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

QLYS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Qualys from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Qualys from $150.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Qualys from $120.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Qualys from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Wedbush lowered their price target on Qualys from $190.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $152.80.

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.