Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) Shares Acquired by Pictet Asset Management Holding SA

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its position in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 11.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 5,463 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 575 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA’s holdings in Qualys were worth $766,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in QLYS. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Qualys by 21.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,399 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $7,374,000 after buying an additional 10,170 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Qualys by 54.9% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 6,199 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $796,000 after purchasing an additional 2,197 shares during the period. Quarry LP grew its position in shares of Qualys by 56.2% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 439 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the period. iSAM Funds UK Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Qualys in the third quarter valued at $238,000. Finally, Zacks Investment Management lifted its position in Qualys by 14.2% during the third quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 11,333 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,456,000 after buying an additional 1,413 shares during the period. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on QLYS shares. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Qualys from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price objective on shares of Qualys from $170.00 to $163.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Qualys in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $120.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Qualys from $162.00 to $135.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Loop Capital cut their price objective on Qualys from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Qualys presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $144.36.

Qualys Trading Down 1.3 %

NASDAQ QLYS opened at $116.99 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $4.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.16 and a beta of 0.71. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $133.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $136.44. Qualys, Inc. has a 52 week low of $112.61 and a 52 week high of $174.20.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $1.19 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, research analysts expect that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Qualys

In other news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 524 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.38, for a total transaction of $67,795.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 65,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,416,557.14. This represents a 0.80 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 4,487 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total transaction of $628,180.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 112,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,785,980. This trade represents a 3.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,960 shares of company stock worth $3,465,246 in the last 90 days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.