Bruce Posey Sells 1,000 Shares of Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Stock

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) insider Bruce Posey sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $150,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 70,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,616,400. This represents a 1.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Qualys Trading Down 2.4%

Shares of Qualys stock traded down $3.55 on Friday, reaching $146.08. 436,247 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 346,792. Qualys, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $112.61 and a fifty-two week high of $158.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.31 and a beta of 0.55. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $135.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $136.39.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The software maker reported $1.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.56 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $169.88 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $166.30 million. Qualys had a return on equity of 37.40% and a net margin of 28.96%.Qualys’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.56 EPS. Qualys has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.930-7.000 EPS and its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.730-1.800 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qualys

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in QLYS. RWA Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Qualys during the 3rd quarter valued at $80,820,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Qualys during the third quarter worth $45,854,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Qualys by 96.8% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 688,776 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $85,394,000 after purchasing an additional 338,702 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in Qualys by 92.2% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 643,238 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $81,003,000 after purchasing an additional 308,635 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fundsmith LLP grew its stake in Qualys by 21.2% in the third quarter. Fundsmith LLP now owns 870,859 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $115,241,000 after purchasing an additional 152,257 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on QLYS. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Qualys from $150.00 to $139.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Northland Securities set a $162.00 target price on Qualys in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $130.00 price target (down previously from $145.00) on shares of Qualys in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Qualys has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $142.14.

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.