Kestra Investment Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Qualys, Inc. $QLYS

Key Points

• Kestra Investment Management LLC significantly reduced its stake in Qualys, Inc. by 51.2%, selling 2,008 shares and leaving it with 1,911 shares valued at approximately $238,000.
• Insider transactions included CEO Sumedh S. Thakar selling 8,500 shares for over $1.1 million, reducing his ownership by 3.93%, while Director Kristi Marie Rogers sold 1,700 shares, decreasing her stake by 16.51%.
• Wall Street analysts have mixed ratings on Qualys, with price targets ranging from $90 to $150, and an average rating of "Hold" with a target price of $141.00.

Kestra Investment Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) by 51.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,911 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 2,008 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC's holdings in Qualys were worth $238,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Qualys by 24.4% during the 1st quarter. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 41,370 shares of the software maker's stock worth $5,210,000 after purchasing an additional 8,120 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Qualys by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 8,143 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,036,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares during the last quarter. Novem Group grew its stake in Qualys by 35.0% in the 1st quarter. Novem Group now owns 7,008 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $883,000 after buying an additional 1,817 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Qualys by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 110,027 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $13,856,000 after buying an additional 1,177 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Verity Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Qualys in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $360,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.31% of the company's stock.

Qualys Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of QLYS traded down $2.19 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $133.46. 182,111 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 280,962. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $135.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $132.93. The company has a market cap of $4.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.64 and a beta of 0.65. Qualys, Inc. has a 1 year low of $112.61 and a 1 year high of $170.00.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The software maker reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.21. Qualys had a net margin of 29.04% and a return on equity of 37.19%. The company had revenue of $164.06 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $161.25 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.52 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Qualys has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.200-6.5 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 1.500-1.6 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Qualys

In other Qualys news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 8,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.95, for a total transaction of $1,104,575.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 207,920 shares in the company, valued at $27,019,204. This represents a 3.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 844 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.80, for a total transaction of $113,771.20. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 93,651 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,624,154.80. The trade was a 0.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 52,222 shares of company stock worth $7,252,957 in the last three months. 0.88% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on QLYS shares. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Qualys to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Qualys from $142.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Qualys from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Qualys from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Qualys from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $141.00.

Qualys Company Profile

Qualys, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides cloud-based platform delivering information technology (IT), security, and compliance solutions in the United States and internationally. It offers Qualys Cloud Apps, which include Cybersecurity Asset Management and External Attack Surface Management; Vulnerability Management, Detection and Response; Web Application Scanning; Patch Management; Custom Assessment and Remediation; Multi-Vector Endpoint Detection and Response; Context Extended Detection and Response; Policy Compliance; File Integrity Monitoring; and Qualys TotalCloud, as well as Cloud Workload Protection, Cloud Detection and Response, Cloud Security Posture Management, Infrastructure as Code, and Container Security.