Hsbc Holdings PLC Invests $1.09 Million in Qualys, Inc. $QLYS

Key Points

• HSBC acquired a new Qualys stake of 7,776 shares worth approximately $1.09 million in the second quarter. Institutional investors collectively own 99.31% of the company.
• Qualys exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting adjusted EPS of $1.98 versus the $1.78 consensus and revenue of $182.18 million versus $178.57 million, with revenue up 11.1% year over year.
• Analysts maintain a consensus “Hold” rating with an average price target of $170.53, below the stock’s reported price of $186.14. Insiders sold 58,614 shares worth about $7.75 million over the past 90 days.

Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new stake in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 7,776 shares of the software maker's stock, valued at approximately $1,088,000.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Qualys news, Director Wendy Pfeiffer sold 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.19, for a total value of $79,095.00. Following the transaction, the director directly 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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 stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.00, for a total transaction of $4,050,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 196,686 shares in the company, valued at $26,552,610. The trade was a 13.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 58,614 shares of company stock worth $7,747,968. Company insiders own 0.72% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on QLYS shares. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Qualys from $145.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Qualys from $150.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $190.00 price target on shares of Qualys in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Qualys from $100.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $170.53.

Qualys Stock Down 0.5%

NASDAQ:QLYS opened at $186.14 on Tuesday. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $159.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $118.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.20 and a beta of 0.60. Qualys, Inc. has a 12-month low of $74.51 and a 12-month high of $201.54.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The software maker reported $1.98 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $182.18 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $178.57 million. Qualys had a return on equity of 37.52% and a net margin of 29.38%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $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. Equities research analysts expect that Qualys, Inc. will post 5.85 EPS for the current year.

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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