Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC Takes $39,000 Position in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 280 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $39,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in Qualys by 33.9% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 391 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its holdings in Qualys by 56.2% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 439 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its holdings in Qualys by 53.6% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 639 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $82,000 after buying an additional 223 shares during the last quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Qualys during the fourth quarter worth $91,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Qualys by 68.6% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 730 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $94,000 after buying an additional 297 shares during the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Qualys Stock Performance

Shares of Qualys stock opened at $147.70 on Wednesday. Qualys, Inc. has a 52-week low of $119.17 and a 52-week high of $174.31. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $141.09 and a 200-day moving average of $135.31. The stock has a market cap of $5.40 billion, a PE ratio of 31.76 and a beta of 0.56.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.16). Qualys had a return on equity of 39.64% and a net margin of 28.59%. Equities research analysts predict that Qualys, Inc. will post 4.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

QLYS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Qualys from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Qualys from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Westpark Capital reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Qualys from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Northland Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $146.00 price objective (down from $150.00) on shares of Qualys in a report on Monday, February 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $146.57.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 8,555 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.62, for a total transaction of $1,322,774.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 64,032 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,900,627.84. This represents a 11.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.49, for a total transaction of $941,430.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 225,453 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,321,173.97. This represents a 3.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 36,288 shares of company stock valued at $5,204,906 over the last quarter. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.