MML Investors Services LLC Raises Stake in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

MML Investors Services LLC increased its stake in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 21.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 20,864 shares of the software maker’s stock after buying an additional 3,701 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC owned 0.06% of Qualys worth $2,680,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in QLYS. Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Qualys during the third quarter worth approximately $445,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its stake in Qualys by 208.5% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 86,187 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $11,072,000 after purchasing an additional 58,252 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Qualys by 428.9% during the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 18,256 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,345,000 after purchasing an additional 14,804 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its position in Qualys by 57.7% during the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 13,672 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,950,000 after purchasing an additional 5,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Qualys by 40.0% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 29,015 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $3,525,000 after buying an additional 8,291 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on QLYS shares. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Qualys from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Qualys from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Qualys from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group upped their target price on Qualys from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on Qualys from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $152.80.

Insider Transactions at Qualys

In related news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total value of $876,470.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 179,649 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,493,851.29. This represents a 3.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,330 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.80, for a total transaction of $164,654.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 55,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,885,508.40. The trade was a 2.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 31,190 shares of company stock worth $4,449,290 over the last three months. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Qualys Trading Down 2.9 %

NASDAQ:QLYS opened at $147.54 on Monday. Qualys, Inc. has a twelve month low of $119.17 and a twelve month high of $206.35. The company has a market cap of $5.40 billion, a PE ratio of 32.50 and a beta of 0.54. The company’s 50 day moving average is $139.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $135.52.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The software maker reported $1.56 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $153.87 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $150.74 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.24 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Qualys, Inc. will post 4.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.