Willis Investment Counsel Has $1.49 Million Stock Position in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Willis Investment Counsel grew its position in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 4.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,629 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 457 shares during the period. Willis Investment Counsel’s holdings in Qualys were worth $1,490,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in Qualys by 2.2% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 4,896 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $699,000 after buying an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of Qualys by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 46,436 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $6,622,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Qualys during the 2nd quarter valued at $40,000. Truist Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Qualys by 42.1% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 1,751 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $250,000 after purchasing an additional 519 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in Qualys by 27.3% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 9,976 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,423,000 after purchasing an additional 2,137 shares in the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

QLYS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen upped their price target on Qualys from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Qualys from $120.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Needham & Company LLC assumed coverage on shares of Qualys in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Qualys from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $152.80.

Insider Activity

In other Qualys news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,332 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.37, for a total transaction of $209,616.84. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 113,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,885,415.24. This represents a 1.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.66, for a total transaction of $1,047,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 225,453 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,741,295.98. The trade was a 3.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 31,259 shares of company stock worth $4,578,153. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Qualys Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:QLYS opened at $139.41 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $144.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $135.61. Qualys, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $119.17 and a fifty-two week high of $192.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.71 and a beta of 0.56.

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

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.