Acadian Asset Management LLC Decreases Position in 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 cut its holdings in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) by 39.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 68,203 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 44,577 shares during the period. 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 modified their holdings of the stock. State of Michigan Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Qualys by 1.2% in the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 8,776 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,105,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its position in Qualys by 1.0% during the first quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 10,300 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $1,297,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Qualys by 3.7% during the first quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,809 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $354,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in Qualys by 27.9% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 500 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its position in Qualys by 2.8% during the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 4,287 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $539,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.31% of the company's stock.

Qualys Trading Up 2.6%

Shares of QLYS traded up $3.42 on Thursday, reaching $135.63. The company's stock had a trading volume of 75,218 shares, compared to its average volume of 331,463. Qualys, Inc. has a twelve month low of $112.61 and a twelve month high of $170.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.90 billion, a PE ratio of 27.07 and a beta of 0.65. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $134.29 and a 200-day moving average of $132.94.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The software maker reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.21. Qualys had a net margin of 29.04% and a return on equity of 37.19%. The company had revenue of $164.06 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $161.25 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.52 EPS. The firm's 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 anticipate that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Qualys news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.49, for a total value of $1,126,165.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 205,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,286,447.99. This trade represents a 3.96% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 844 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.80, for a total transaction of $113,771.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 93,651 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,624,154.80. This trade represents a 0.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 51,565 shares of company stock worth $7,102,258 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.88% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Qualys from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 30th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Qualys from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Qualys from $142.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Qualys from $90.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Qualys to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Qualys presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $141.00.

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.