Raymond James Financial Inc. Makes New $15.94 Million Investment in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 113,658 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $15,937,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in QLYS. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Qualys in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Qualys in the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in shares of Qualys by 33.9% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 391 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. Quarry LP increased its stake in shares of Qualys by 56.2% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 439 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the period. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Qualys in the fourth quarter worth about $91,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

QLYS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Qualys from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price objective on Qualys from $170.00 to $163.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on Qualys from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Northland Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $146.00 price objective (down from $150.00) on shares of Qualys in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Qualys presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $146.14.

Insider Transactions at Qualys

In related news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,635 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.64, for a total transaction of $226,676.40. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 112,017 shares in the company, valued at $15,530,036.88. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.49, for a total value of $941,430.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 225,453 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,321,173.97. This trade represents a 3.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 26,926 shares of company stock valued at $3,745,742. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Qualys Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of QLYS opened at $130.61 on Wednesday. Qualys, Inc. has a 1 year low of $119.17 and a 1 year high of $174.20. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $136.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $136.11. The stock has a market cap of $4.76 billion, a PE ratio of 28.09 and a beta of 0.56.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.16). Qualys had a return on equity of 38.52% and a net margin of 28.59%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 EPS for the current fiscal 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.