HighTower Advisors LLC Acquires 6,844 Shares of Qualys, Inc. $QLYS

Key Points

• HighTower Advisors increased its Qualys stake by 21.7% in the second quarter, adding 6,844 shares to own 38,408 shares valued at approximately $5.28 million. Institutional investors collectively own 99.31% of Qualys.
• Qualys exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $1.98 in earnings per share versus the $1.78 consensus estimate and revenue of $182.18 million. Revenue rose 11.1% year over year, while the company issued fiscal 2026 EPS guidance of $7.74–$7.88.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed, with a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $173.87. The stock opened at $161.57, while insiders sold 57,205 shares worth approximately $7.59 million over the prior 90 days.

HighTower Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) by 21.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 38,408 shares of the software maker's stock after acquiring an additional 6,844 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.11% of Qualys worth $5,281,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew 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 purchasing an additional 1,974 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Qualys during the 2nd quarter valued at about $292,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in shares of Qualys by 3,218.8% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 531 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 515 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Qualys by 482.0% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 646 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $92,000 after acquiring an additional 535 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in Qualys by 47.1% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 21,365 shares of the software maker's stock worth $3,076,000 after acquiring an additional 6,844 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.31% of the company's stock.

Qualys Price Performance

NASDAQ:QLYS opened at $161.57 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.95 and a beta of 0.62. Qualys, Inc. has a 1 year low of $74.51 and a 1 year high of $201.54. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $166.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $122.28.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The software maker reported $1.98 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $182.18 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $178.57 million. Qualys had a return on equity of 37.52% and a net margin of 29.38%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.68 EPS. Qualys has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.740-7.880 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.910-1.980 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Qualys, Inc. will post 5.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Qualys news, Director Wendy Pfeiffer sold 500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.19, for a total transaction of $79,095.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 12,210 shares in the company, valued at $1,931,499.90. The trade was a 3.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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 on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.04, for a total transaction of $248,996.08. Following the completion of the sale, 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. Insiders sold 57,205 shares of company stock valued at $7,592,800 over the last ninety days. 0.72% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

QLYS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Qualys from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Monday, August 24th. TD Cowen increased their target price on Qualys from $145.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Wedbush downgraded shares of Qualys from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $175.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday. Zacks Research raised shares of Qualys from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Qualys from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Qualys has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $173.87.

About Qualys

Qualys, Inc is a cloud-based security and compliance company that helps organizations identify, assess and manage cyber risk across their information technology environments. Its platform is designed to provide visibility into assets, vulnerabilities, configurations and compliance requirements across networks, endpoints, applications and cloud infrastructure.

The company's offerings include vulnerability management, asset inventory, policy compliance, cloud security, web application security and endpoint detection and response.

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