Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Purchases Shares of 1,945 Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,945 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $273,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Qualys in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Qualys in the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its stake in Qualys by 88.1% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 333 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Qualys in the fourth quarter valued at $54,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in Qualys by 33.9% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 391 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Qualys

In related news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 525 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.48, for a total transaction of $73,227.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 65,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,118,226.04. The trade was a 0.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Jeffrey P. Hank sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.93, for a total transaction of $515,720.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 12,666 shares in the company, valued at $1,633,027.38. The trade was a 24.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 15,127 shares of company stock valued at $1,905,108. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Qualys Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of Qualys stock opened at $136.88 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.97 billion, a PE ratio of 29.44 and a beta of 0.61. Qualys, Inc. has a 12-month low of $112.61 and a 12-month high of $170.00. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $126.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $136.64.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The software maker reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.21. Qualys had a net margin of 28.59% and a return on equity of 38.52%. The firm had revenue of $159.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $157.05 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.45 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Qualys from $131.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Qualys from $122.00 to $117.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a report on Monday, February 10th. Wedbush decreased their price target on Qualys from $160.00 to $145.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Loop Capital dropped their price objective on Qualys from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $137.50.

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.