Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Reduces Stock Holdings in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC reduced its stake in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 9.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,341 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 859 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Qualys were worth $1,637,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in Qualys by 44.2% during the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 6,851 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,345,000 after purchasing an additional 2,100 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in Qualys by 24.9% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 291 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Qualys during the 4th quarter worth approximately $591,000. Xponance Inc. increased its holdings in Qualys by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 6,376 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,251,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt purchased a new stake in Qualys during the 4th quarter worth approximately $363,000. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on QLYS. StockNews.com downgraded Qualys from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday. TD Cowen began coverage on Qualys in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $170.00 price target for the company. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $190.00 price target on shares of Qualys in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Qualys from $212.00 to $180.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Wedbush reduced their price objective on Qualys from $230.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $153.23.

Insider Transactions at Qualys

In other news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.49, for a total transaction of $191,523.70. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 96,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,395,445.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.49, for a total transaction of $191,523.70. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 96,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,395,445.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 4,120 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.62, for a total value of $690,594.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 194,481 shares in the company, valued at $32,598,905.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,792 shares of company stock valued at $2,455,489 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Qualys Stock Performance

QLYS opened at $172.11 on Thursday. Qualys, Inc. has a one year low of $107.00 and a one year high of $206.35. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $166.41 and its 200-day moving average is $175.60. The company has a market capitalization of $6.36 billion, a PE ratio of 42.60 and a beta of 0.51.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The software maker reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.26. Qualys had a return on equity of 49.06% and a net margin of 27.34%. The company had revenue of $144.57 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $144.69 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.35 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.