CWA Asset Management Group LLC Makes New $905,000 Investment in Qualys, Inc. $QLYS

Key Points

• CWA Asset Management Group acquired 4,833 Qualys shares worth approximately $905,000 in the third quarter. Institutional investors collectively own 99.31% of the cybersecurity company.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed: Qualys has a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $183.62, despite some analysts upgrading the stock to Buy or Strong Buy.
• Qualys reported quarterly EPS of $1.98, beating expectations of $1.78, while revenue rose 11.1% year over year to $182.18 million. Shares opened at $208.20, near their 52-week high of $210.10.

CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 4,833 shares of the software maker's stock, valued at approximately $905,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Qualys in the second quarter valued at about $792,316,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in Qualys during the second quarter worth about $197,624,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in Qualys by 127.0% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 832,796 shares of the software maker's stock worth $73,161,000 after buying an additional 465,952 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Qualys by 6.4% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 763,099 shares of the software maker's stock worth $67,041,000 after acquiring an additional 45,718 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in Qualys by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 497,600 shares of the software maker's stock worth $43,714,000 after purchasing an additional 17,300 shares during the period. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Qualys in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Qualys from $135.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Qualys from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, October 17th. Zacks Research raised Qualys from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Qualys from $100.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $183.62.

Qualys Stock Up 5.8%

Shares of Qualys stock opened at $208.20 on Friday. Qualys, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $74.51 and a fifty-two week high of $210.10. The firm has a market cap of $7.20 billion, a PE ratio of 33.68 and a beta of 0.60. The business's fifty day moving average is $183.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $142.02.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The software maker reported $1.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 quarter last year, the firm earned $1.68 earnings per share. The business's 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. Equities research analysts anticipate that Qualys, Inc. will post 5.84 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 3,200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.36, for a total transaction of $609,152.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 177,138 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $33,719,989.68. This represents a 1.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,627 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.04, for a total transaction of $248,996.08. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 75,743 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,591,708.72. This represents a 2.10% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 10,640 shares of company stock valued at $1,884,257. Insiders own 0.72% of the company's stock.

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.

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