Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Acquires 21,467 Shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 23.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 113,471 shares of the software maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,467 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC owned 0.31% of Qualys worth $15,911,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of QLYS. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Qualys by 1,386.2% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 355,699 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $49,876,000 after buying an additional 331,766 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Qualys by 100.7% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 367,470 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $52,401,000 after acquiring an additional 184,403 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp increased its holdings in Qualys by 14.5% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 926,093 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $118,966,000 after acquiring an additional 117,079 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Qualys by 25.6% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 315,970 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $44,994,000 after acquiring an additional 64,394 shares during the period. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 58,252 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Qualys Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ QLYS opened at $143.14 on Friday. Qualys, Inc. has a 1-year low of $119.17 and a 1-year high of $199.37. The business’s 50 day moving average is $144.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $135.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.53 and a beta of 0.57.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last released 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 firm had revenue of $153.87 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $150.74 million. Qualys had a return on equity of 40.24% and a net margin of 28.72%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.24 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Qualys, Inc. will post 4.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 855 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.24, for a total transaction of $121,615.20. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 63,177 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,986,296.48. This represents a 1.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Jeffrey P. Hank sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.31, for a total value of $585,240.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 12,666 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,853,162.46. This represents a 24.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 31,259 shares of company stock valued at $4,578,153. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

QLYS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on shares of Qualys from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Qualys from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Qualys from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Wolfe Research raised Qualys from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Qualys from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Three equities 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $152.80.

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.