Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Increases Stake in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 31.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,110 shares of the software maker’s stock after buying an additional 746 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Qualys were worth $436,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of QLYS. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of Qualys in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,508,000. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC raised its holdings in Qualys by 26.9% in the fourth quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 4,253 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $596,000 after purchasing an additional 902 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Qualys by 34.0% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 38,890 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $5,453,000 after buying an additional 9,875 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its position in Qualys by 29.5% during the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 67,024 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $9,398,000 after buying an additional 15,284 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Qualys by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 115,897 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $16,251,000 after buying an additional 3,196 shares in the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Qualys

In other news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 845 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.96, for a total transaction of $118,266.20. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 100,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,006,497. This represents a 0.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 524 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.38, for a total value of $67,795.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 65,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,416,557.14. This trade represents a 0.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 24,472 shares of company stock worth $3,181,068. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on QLYS shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Qualys from $120.00 to $90.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Qualys from $145.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Wall Street Zen raised Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 12th. Scotiabank set a $142.00 price target on Qualys and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Qualys from $131.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Qualys has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $137.50.

Qualys Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of QLYS opened at $140.68 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $5.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.25 and a beta of 0.61. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $130.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $135.86. Qualys, Inc. has a 12 month low of $112.61 and a 12 month high of $170.00.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The software maker reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.21. Qualys had a return on equity of 38.52% and a net margin of 28.59%. The firm had revenue of $159.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $157.05 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.45 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 EPS for the current 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.