Janus Henderson Group PLC Acquires 742 Shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 1.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 49,485 shares of the software maker’s stock after buying an additional 742 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in Qualys were worth $8,255,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of QLYS. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in Qualys by 27.4% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,154 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $227,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in shares of Qualys by 16.0% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 34,766 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $6,824,000 after acquiring an additional 4,792 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Qualys by 218.2% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 210 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Qualys by 201,932.8% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 117,179 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $23,000,000 after purchasing an additional 117,121 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arkadios Wealth Advisors lifted its position in Qualys by 64.0% during the fourth quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 5,016 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $985,000 after purchasing an additional 1,958 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Qualys news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,339 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.35, for a total transaction of $191,945.65. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 58,947 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,450,052.45. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,339 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.35, for a total transaction of $191,945.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 58,947 shares in the company, valued at $8,450,052.45. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,330 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.24, for a total transaction of $193,169.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 59,616 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,658,627.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 30,027 shares of company stock worth $4,216,326. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on QLYS. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Qualys from $175.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Qualys in a report on Friday, April 26th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $172.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Qualys from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Three investment 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $164.50.

Qualys Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:QLYS opened at $138.42 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.04 and a beta of 0.49. Qualys, Inc. has a 1-year low of $131.07 and a 1-year high of $206.35. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $141.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $159.28.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The software maker reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.17. Qualys had a net margin of 28.48% and a return on equity of 47.28%. The company had revenue of $145.81 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $145.67 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.42 earnings per share 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.