Van ECK Associates Corp Has $2.53 Million Position in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 39.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,887 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,615 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Qualys were worth $2,529,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Qualys by 1.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,739,966 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $570,532,000 after buying an additional 45,867 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Qualys by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 1,137,107 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $173,466,000 after acquiring an additional 54,219 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in Qualys by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 887,988 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $135,463,000 after acquiring an additional 12,794 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Qualys by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 570,957 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $87,099,000 after purchasing an additional 14,273 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its position in Qualys by 2.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 517,735 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $78,980,000 after purchasing an additional 10,946 shares during the period. 99.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Qualys Stock Down 2.5 %

QLYS opened at $165.98 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.08 and a beta of 0.51. Qualys, Inc. has a twelve month low of $112.17 and a twelve month high of $206.35. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $166.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $176.05.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The software maker reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $144.57 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $144.69 million. Qualys had a net margin of 27.34% and a return on equity of 49.06%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Qualys

In other news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 4,120 shares of Qualys 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 194,481 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,598,905.22. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 4,034 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.96, for a total transaction of $661,414.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 193,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,743,967.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 4,120 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.62, for a total transaction of $690,594.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 194,481 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,598,905.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,662 shares of company stock worth $2,263,965 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on QLYS. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Qualys in a research report on Friday, April 26th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $172.00 price objective on the stock. TD Cowen began coverage on Qualys in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $170.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Qualys from $212.00 to $180.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $190.00 price target on shares of Qualys in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Qualys from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Qualys has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $157.62.

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.