Geode Capital Management LLC Buys 48,877 Shares of Qualys, Inc. $QLYS

Key Points

• Geode Capital Management increased its Qualys stake by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, buying 48,877 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 1,256,002 shares, worth about $168.4 million.
• Qualys reported better-than-expected quarterly results, posting $1.95 EPS on revenue of $175.64 million, both above analyst estimates, while revenue rose 9.8% year over year.
• Despite the earnings beat, sentiment remains mixed: several analysts have cut ratings or price targets, and insiders have recently sold shares, including CEO Sumedh S. Thakar’s sale under a pre-arranged trading plan.

Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) by 4.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,256,002 shares of the software maker's stock after purchasing an additional 48,877 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC owned about 3.50% of Qualys worth $168,380,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in QLYS. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Qualys by 3,948.0% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 2,024 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $255,000 after buying an additional 1,974 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Qualys during the second quarter valued at approximately $292,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in Qualys by 3,218.8% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 531 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $76,000 after buying an additional 515 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Qualys by 482.0% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 646 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $92,000 after buying an additional 535 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in Qualys by 47.1% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 21,365 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $3,076,000 after buying an additional 6,844 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.31% of the company's stock.

Qualys Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ QLYS opened at $111.61 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $91.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $112.89. The stock has a market cap of $3.93 billion, a PE ratio of 20.04 and a beta of 0.66. Qualys, Inc. has a 1 year low of $74.51 and a 1 year high of $155.47.

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

Insider Transactions at Qualys

In related news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 13,200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.73, for a total transaction of $1,514,436.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 249,886 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,669,420.78. This represents a 5.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 865 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.43, for a total transaction of $86,871.95. Following the transaction, the insider owned 65,436 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,571,737.48. This represents a 1.30% 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. Insiders sold a total of 19,172 shares of company stock valued at $2,124,751 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. William Blair cut shares of Qualys from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Qualys from $120.00 to $85.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Qualys from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Wedbush reduced their target price on shares of Qualys from $155.00 to $125.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their target price on shares of Qualys from $150.00 to $125.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $122.14.

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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