Aurora Investment Counsel Takes $2.24 Million Position in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Aurora Investment Counsel bought a new stake in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 15,993 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $2,243,000. Qualys makes up approximately 1.2% of Aurora Investment Counsel’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Qualys during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Qualys during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in shares of Qualys by 33.9% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 391 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its stake in shares of Qualys by 56.2% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 439 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Qualys during the 4th quarter valued at $91,000. 99.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Qualys

In related news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 855 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.24, for a total transaction of $121,615.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 63,177 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,986,296.48. The trade was a 1.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.49, for a total value of $941,430.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 225,453 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,321,173.97. The trade was a 3.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 26,926 shares of company stock worth $3,745,742 over the last three months. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on QLYS. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Qualys from $162.00 to $135.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price objective on shares of Qualys from $170.00 to $163.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on shares of Qualys from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Qualys presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $146.57.

Qualys Trading Down 1.2 %

QLYS opened at $121.57 on Friday. Qualys, Inc. has a 12-month low of $119.17 and a 12-month high of $174.20. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $136.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $135.88. The company has a market capitalization of $4.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.14 and a beta of 0.56.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 28.59% and a return on equity of 38.52%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 EPS for the current 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.