Balyasny Asset Management L.P. Sells 969 Shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lessened its position in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 27.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,609 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 969 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P.’s holdings in Qualys were worth $366,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Amalgamated Bank boosted its stake in shares of Qualys by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 16,640 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,333,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Qualys by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 5,749 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $806,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 99 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Qualys by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,089 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $153,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the period. Finally, Huntington National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Qualys by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 932 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $131,000 after buying an additional 126 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Qualys from $145.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Wedbush cut their price target on Qualys from $160.00 to $145.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. StockNews.com upgraded Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 12th. Scotiabank set a $142.00 price target on Qualys and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Qualys from $120.00 to $90.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Qualys has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $137.50.

Insider Transactions at Qualys

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

Qualys Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:QLYS opened at $136.88 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $126.48 and a 200-day moving average of $136.53. The company has a market capitalization of $4.97 billion, a PE ratio of 29.44 and a beta of 0.61. Qualys, Inc. has a 52-week low of $112.61 and a 52-week high of $170.00.

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

Qualys Company 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.