Caxton Associates LLP Invests $1.27 Million in Qualys, Inc. $QLYS

Key Points

• Caxton Associates LLP initiated a new position in Qualys during the first quarter, buying 14,513 shares valued at about $1.27 million.
• Qualys reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings, posting $1.95 EPS versus the $1.81 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 9.8% year over year to $175.64 million.
• Despite the solid results, analysts remain cautious overall: the stock has a Hold consensus rating with an average price target of $141.80, and several firms recently cut or adjusted their targets.

Caxton Associates LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 14,513 shares of the software maker's stock, valued at approximately $1,275,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its holdings in Qualys by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 1,985 shares of the software maker's stock worth $264,000 after buying an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Qualys by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 5,027 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $665,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its stake in shares of Qualys by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,038 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $291,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd raised its position in shares of Qualys by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,178 shares of the software maker's stock worth $156,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Qualys by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,231 shares of the software maker's stock worth $164,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.31% of the company's stock.

Qualys Stock Up 2.8%

QLYS stock opened at $137.48 on Friday. The business's fifty day moving average is $125.13 and its 200-day moving average is $110.59. The company has a market cap of $4.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.68 and a beta of 0.61. Qualys, Inc. has a twelve month low of $74.51 and a twelve month high of $167.86.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The software maker reported $1.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.81 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $175.64 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $173.63 million. Qualys had a return on equity of 37.15% and a net margin of 29.41%.The firm's revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.67 EPS. Qualys has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.440-7.650 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.730-1.800 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Qualys, Inc. will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

QLYS has been the topic of several research reports. William Blair lowered Qualys from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price objective on Qualys from $150.00 to $125.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Qualys from $85.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday. Wedbush cut their target price on shares of Qualys from $155.00 to $125.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $96.00 target price on shares of Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $141.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 2,384 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.18, for a total transaction of $238,829.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 66,301 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,642,034.18. The trade was a 3.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 30,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.00, for a total value of $4,050,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 196,686 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $26,552,610. This trade represents a 13.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 73,846 shares of company stock worth $9,239,073 in the last ninety days. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Qualys

Qualys, Inc NASDAQ: QLYS is a leading provider of cloud-based security and compliance solutions designed to help organizations streamline their IT security programs. Operating on a unified, modular platform, Qualys offers continuous visibility into global IT assets through a combination of lightweight cloud agents and on-premises scanner appliances. The platform supports an array of security and compliance use cases, enabling real-time detection of vulnerabilities, policy violations and misconfigurations across on-premises, cloud and hybrid environments.

The company's flagship Qualys Cloud Platform delivers a suite of integrated applications, including vulnerability management, detection and response (VMDR), policy compliance, web application scanning, file integrity monitoring, asset inventory and container security.

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