Townsquare Capital LLC Reduces Holdings in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Townsquare Capital LLC reduced its stake in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 15,605 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 405 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC’s holdings in Qualys were worth $2,188,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC increased its position in Qualys by 101.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 112,214 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $14,415,000 after purchasing an additional 56,613 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp increased its position in shares of Qualys by 36.7% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 2,262 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $291,000 after buying an additional 607 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Qualys by 16.3% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,650 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $212,000 after buying an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Qualys by 30.8% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 4,919 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $632,000 after buying an additional 1,159 shares during the period. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in Qualys by 70.5% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 2,472 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $318,000 after acquiring an additional 1,022 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on QLYS. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on shares of Qualys from $170.00 to $163.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased 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. Jefferies Financial Group dropped 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Qualys from $120.00 to $90.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $142.21.

Qualys Price Performance

QLYS opened at $121.35 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.43 billion, a PE ratio of 26.10 and a beta of 0.71. The business’s 50-day moving average is $129.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $135.97. Qualys, Inc. has a 1 year low of $112.61 and a 1 year high of $174.20.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.16). Qualys had a net margin of 28.59% and a return on equity of 38.52%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.17, for a total transaction of $995,190.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 246,144 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,994,292.48. This trade represents a 2.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 882 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.66, for a total transaction of $123,180.12. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 62,295 shares in the company, valued at $8,700,119.70. The trade was a 1.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 26,480 shares of company stock valued at $3,579,506. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Qualys 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.