Abacus FCF Advisors LLC Purchases 1,488 Shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Abacus FCF Advisors LLC raised its position in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 44.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 4,829 shares of the software maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,488 shares during the quarter. Abacus FCF Advisors LLC’s holdings in Qualys were worth $677,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Qualys by 1,386.2% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 355,699 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $49,876,000 after purchasing an additional 331,766 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Qualys by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,312,662 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $604,721,000 after buying an additional 131,339 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its position in Qualys by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,049,623 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $147,178,000 after buying an additional 123,530 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Qualys during the 4th quarter worth about $15,937,000. Finally, CDAM UK Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Qualys by 21.6% during the 4th quarter. CDAM UK Ltd now owns 611,793 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $85,786,000 after buying an additional 108,880 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on QLYS shares. Scotiabank dropped their target price on Qualys from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Qualys in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $120.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Qualys from $162.00 to $135.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Qualys from $145.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Qualys currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $144.36.

Qualys Stock Performance

QLYS opened at $115.21 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $131.96 and a 200-day moving average of $136.23. The company has a market capitalization of $4.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.78 and a beta of 0.71. Qualys, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $112.61 and a fifty-two week high of $174.20.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 28.59% and a return on equity of 38.52%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 882 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.66, for a total value of $123,180.12. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 62,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,700,119.70. This trade represents a 1.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.17, for a total value of $995,190.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 246,144 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,994,292.48. This trade represents a 2.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 25,122 shares of company stock worth $3,484,692 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.