MetLife Investment Management LLC Reduces Position in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

MetLife Investment Management LLC reduced its position in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 1.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 39,441 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 760 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC owned 0.11% of Qualys worth $5,067,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in QLYS. Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Qualys during the third quarter valued at $445,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its stake in Qualys by 208.5% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 86,187 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $11,072,000 after acquiring an additional 58,252 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Qualys by 428.9% in the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 18,256 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,345,000 after acquiring an additional 14,804 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its position in shares of Qualys by 36.6% during the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 20,576 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $3,374,000 after acquiring an additional 5,508 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Qualys by 2,459.9% during the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 43,135 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $6,151,000 after acquiring an additional 41,450 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on QLYS shares. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on Qualys from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Wedbush lowered their price objective on shares of Qualys from $190.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Qualys from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Qualys from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Qualys currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $152.80.

Qualys Price Performance

Shares of QLYS stock opened at $153.60 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $134.34 and a 200 day moving average of $134.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.83 and a beta of 0.47. Qualys, Inc. has a 1 year low of $119.17 and a 1 year high of $206.35.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The software maker reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.23. Qualys had a return on equity of 40.24% and a net margin of 28.72%. The firm had revenue of $153.87 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $150.74 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.24 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Qualys, Inc. will post 4.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 634 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.19, for a total transaction of $77,468.46. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 85,942 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,501,252.98. This trade represents a 0.73 % 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 1,330 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.80, for a total value of $164,654.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 55,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,885,508.40. The trade was a 2.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 21,919 shares of company stock valued at $2,993,000 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.