Qualys, Inc. $QLYS Shares Acquired by Horizon Investments LLC

Key Points

• Horizon Investments LLC increased its stake in Qualys, Inc. by 44.1%, acquiring a total of 15,524 shares valued at approximately $1,955,000.
• Qualys reported earnings of $1.68 per share for the latest quarter, exceeding expectations and achieving a 10.3% revenue increase year-over-year.
• The stock has seen mixed analyst ratings, with an average target price of $141.00 and a consensus rating of "Hold" among research analysts.

Horizon Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) by 44.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,524 shares of the software maker's stock after purchasing an additional 4,754 shares during the quarter. Horizon Investments LLC's holdings in Qualys were worth $1,955,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in Qualys by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 5,175 shares of the software maker's stock worth $726,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Qualys in the fourth quarter worth about $15,937,000. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Qualys by 61.5% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 181,249 shares of the software maker's stock worth $25,415,000 after acquiring an additional 69,035 shares during the period. Mariner LLC lifted its stake in Qualys by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 5,129 shares of the software maker's stock worth $719,000 after acquiring an additional 577 shares during the period. Finally, Jump Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Qualys in the fourth quarter worth about $3,744,000. 99.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Qualys news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 12,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total transaction of $1,791,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 217,962 shares in the company, valued at $32,530,828.50. This represents a 5.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Jeffrey P. Hank sold 657 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.07, for a total transaction of $91,368.99. Following the sale, the director owned 13,888 shares in the company, valued at $1,931,404.16. This trade represents a 4.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 52,060 shares of company stock worth $7,247,888 in the last quarter. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on QLYS shares. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Qualys from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Qualys from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Qualys from $90.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Qualys from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Sunday. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Qualys to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $141.00.

Qualys Trading Up 1.9%

Qualys stock traded up $2.45 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $133.10. The company had a trading volume of 304,413 shares, compared to its average volume of 337,191. The company has a market capitalization of $4.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.57 and a beta of 0.56. Qualys, Inc. has a 12-month low of $112.61 and a 12-month high of $170.00. The company's fifty day moving average is $138.08 and its 200-day moving average is $133.68.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $164.06 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $161.25 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.52 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly 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. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Qualys

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.