Acadian Asset Management LLC Sells 44,577 Shares of Qualys, Inc. $QLYS

Key Points

• Acadian Asset Management LLC has decreased its stake in Qualys, Inc. by 39.5%, reducing its holdings to 68,203 shares valued at approximately $8.58 million.
• Several hedge funds have altered their positions in Qualys, including Bank of America, which increased its stake by 35.5% in the previous quarter.
• Qualys reported strong quarterly earnings, with an EPS of $1.68 exceeding estimates, and a revenue increase of 10.3% year-over-year.

Acadian Asset Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) by 39.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 68,203 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 44,577 shares during the quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC owned about 0.19% of Qualys worth $8,582,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its position in Qualys by 35.6% in the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 23,988 shares of the software maker's stock worth $3,021,000 after purchasing an additional 6,292 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position 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 worth $81,003,000 after purchasing an additional 308,635 shares during the period. Optimize Financial Inc increased its position in Qualys by 1.6% in the first quarter. Optimize Financial Inc now owns 14,148 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,782,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares during the period. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC increased its position in Qualys by 3,466.2% in the first quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 5,278 shares of the software maker's stock worth $678,000 after purchasing an additional 5,130 shares during the period. Finally, United Services Automobile Association acquired a new stake in Qualys in the first quarter worth about $306,000. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

QLYS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Qualys from $90.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Zacks Research upgraded Qualys to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Qualys from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Qualys from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on Qualys from $142.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $141.00.

Qualys Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of QLYS traded down $1.38 on Monday, hitting $132.08. The company's stock had a trading volume of 385,797 shares, compared to its average volume of 278,432. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $134.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $132.95. Qualys, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $112.61 and a fifty-two week high of $170.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.36 and a beta of 0.65.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The software maker reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.21. Qualys had a return on equity of 37.19% and a net margin of 29.04%.The business had revenue of $164.06 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $161.25 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.52 EPS. Qualys's quarterly revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Qualys has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.200-6.5 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 1.500-1.6 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Qualys

In other Qualys news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 8,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.95, for a total value of $1,104,575.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 207,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,019,204. The trade was a 3.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Wendy Pfeiffer sold 200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.72, for a total value of $25,944.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 11,082 shares in the company, valued at $1,437,557.04. The trade was a 1.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 43,065 shares of company stock worth $5,976,093. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

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.