Norges Bank Makes New $29.16 Million Investment in Qualys, Inc. $QLYS

Key Points

• Norges Bank opened a new position in Qualys during the fourth quarter, buying 219,395 shares valued at about $29.16 million. The stake represented roughly 0.61% of the company at quarter-end.
• Qualys reported better-than-expected quarterly results, posting EPS of $1.95 versus estimates of $1.81 and revenue of $175.64 million versus expectations. Revenue rose 9.8% year over year, and the company also issued FY2026 and Q2 2026 guidance.
• Analysts remain mixed on the stock, with a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $122.14. Meanwhile, company insiders have recently sold shares, including CEO Sumedh S. Thakar’s pre-arranged sale of 13,200 shares.

Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 219,395 shares of the software maker's stock, valued at approximately $29,158,000. Norges Bank owned about 0.61% of Qualys at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in QLYS. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in Qualys by 204.3% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 213 shares of the software maker's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in Qualys by 86.8% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 284 shares of the software maker's stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas bought a new position in Qualys during the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Qualys by 127.0% during the fourth quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 345 shares of the software maker's stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Qualys during the third quarter worth about $55,000. Institutional investors own 99.31% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Qualys from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen lowered Qualys from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Wedbush dropped their price target on Qualys from $155.00 to $125.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Qualys in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price target on Qualys from $120.00 to $85.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Qualys has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $122.14.

Qualys Price Performance

NASDAQ QLYS opened at $109.71 on Wednesday. The stock's 50-day moving average is $93.19 and its 200-day moving average is $112.06. Qualys, Inc. has a one year low of $74.51 and a one year high of $155.47. The firm has a market cap of $3.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.70 and a beta of 0.66.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The software maker reported $1.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.81 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $175.64 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $173.63 million. Qualys had a return on equity of 37.15% and a net margin of 29.41%.Qualys's revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.67 EPS. Qualys has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.440-7.650 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.730-1.800 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Qualys, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Qualys

In other news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 13,200 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was 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 directly owned 249,886 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,669,420.78. The trade was a 5.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 2,384 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.18, for a total value of $238,829.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 66,301 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,642,034.18. This trade represents a 3.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 19,172 shares of company stock worth $2,124,751. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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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