Norges Bank Makes New $14.11 Million Investment in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 100,631 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $14,110,000. Norges Bank owned about 0.28% of Qualys at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of QLYS. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Qualys during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Qualys during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in shares of Qualys by 33.9% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 391 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its stake in Qualys by 56.2% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 439 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares during the period. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Qualys in the fourth quarter valued at $91,000. 99.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Qualys Trading Down 1.3 %

Qualys stock opened at $116.99 on Tuesday. Qualys, Inc. has a 12 month low of $112.61 and a 12 month high of $174.20. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $133.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $136.44. The firm has a market cap of $4.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.16 and a beta of 0.71.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.16). Qualys had a return on equity of 38.52% and a net margin of 28.59%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 524 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.38, for a total value of $67,795.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 65,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,416,557.14. The trade was a 0.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.17, for a total value of $995,190.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 246,144 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,994,292.48. This represents a 2.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 24,960 shares of company stock valued at $3,465,246. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on QLYS shares. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Qualys from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Northland Securities restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $146.00 price objective (down from $150.00) on shares of Qualys in a report on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com downgraded Qualys from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Qualys from $145.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Loop Capital decreased their price objective on Qualys from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Qualys presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $144.36.

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.