Insider Selling: Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Insider Sells $166,967.12 in Stock

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) insider Bruce Posey sold 881 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.52, for a total transaction of $166,967.12. Following the sale, the insider owned 57,807 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,955,582.64. The trade was a 1.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Qualys Stock Up 4.1%

Shares of QLYS opened at $216.70 on Friday. Qualys, Inc. has a twelve month low of $74.51 and a twelve month high of $219.03. The company has a market capitalization of $7.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.65 and a beta of 0.60. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $184.03 and a 200 day moving average of $142.54.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The software maker reported $1.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.20. Qualys had a return on equity of 37.52% and a net margin of 29.38%. The business had revenue of $182.18 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $178.57 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.68 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. Qualys has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.740-7.880 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.910-1.980 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Qualys, Inc. will post 5.84 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qualys

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in Qualys by 17.4% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,423 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $266,000 after buying an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI purchased a new position in shares of Qualys during the 3rd quarter worth $287,000. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Qualys during the 3rd quarter worth $258,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Qualys by 825.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,185 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $222,000 after acquiring an additional 1,057 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. grew its position in shares of Qualys by 86.1% during the 3rd quarter. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. now owns 1,001 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $187,000 after acquiring an additional 463 shares during the period. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Qualys from $135.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Qualys from $160.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Qualys from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $200.00 price target on shares of Qualys in a report on Tuesday, October 13th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Qualys from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $183.62.

Qualys Company Profile

Qualys, Inc is a cloud-based cybersecurity company that helps organizations identify, assess and manage security risks across information technology environments. Its platform is designed to provide visibility into assets, vulnerabilities, configurations and compliance requirements across on-premises infrastructure, endpoints, networks, applications and cloud environments.

The company’s offerings include vulnerability management, detection and response, policy compliance, asset inventory, web application security, endpoint security and cloud security capabilities.