Janus Henderson Group PLC Trims Stake in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Janus Henderson Group PLC cut its position in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 0.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 39,071 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 297 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in Qualys were worth $5,019,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in QLYS. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted 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 buying an additional 168 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in Qualys by 149.0% during the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 239 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Qualys during the 2nd quarter valued at $40,000. DT Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Qualys in the second quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake in Qualys by 53.6% in the third 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. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Qualys Stock Performance

QLYS stock opened at $153.88 on Wednesday. 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 $5.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.89 and a beta of 0.54. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $138.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $135.37.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The software maker reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 analysts’ expectations of $150.74 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.24 earnings per share. Qualys’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Qualys, Inc. will post 4.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Qualys

In other Qualys news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 179,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,493,851.29. The trade was a 3.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 8,555 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.62, for a total transaction of $1,322,774.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 64,032 shares in the company, valued at $9,900,627.84. The trade was a 11.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 31,190 shares of company stock valued at $4,449,290 in the last quarter. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

QLYS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Qualys from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price 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. Wolfe Research raised shares of Qualys from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Qualys from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC started coverage on Qualys in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, 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.