Qualys, Inc. $QLYS Holdings Boosted by Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership

Key Points

• Arrowstreet Capital increased its Qualys stake by 127% in the first quarter, bringing its holdings to 832,796 shares worth approximately $73.2 million. Institutional investors collectively own 99.31% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious, with a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $141.80, despite some recent target increases and rating upgrades.
• Qualys reported first-quarter earnings of $1.95 per share, exceeding estimates of $1.81, while revenue rose 9.8% year over year to $175.64 million. Company insiders sold 73,846 shares worth about $9.24 million during the latest quarter.

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) by 127.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 832,796 shares of the software maker's stock after purchasing an additional 465,952 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned 2.36% of Qualys worth $73,161,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Qualys by 3,948.0% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 2,024 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $255,000 after buying an additional 1,974 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Qualys during the second quarter valued at approximately $292,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in Qualys by 3,218.8% in the second 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 last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Qualys by 482.0% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 646 shares of the software maker's stock worth $92,000 after acquiring an additional 535 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its stake in shares of Qualys by 47.1% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 21,365 shares of the software maker's stock worth $3,076,000 after purchasing an additional 6,844 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.31% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on QLYS. Morgan Stanley set a $96.00 price objective on shares of Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Qualys from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $87.00 to $139.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Qualys from $135.00 to $100.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. TD Cowen increased their price target on Qualys from $90.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Wedbush dropped their price target on shares of Qualys from $155.00 to $125.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $141.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at Qualys

In other news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 30,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.00, for a total value of $4,050,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 196,686 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,552,610. The trade was a 13.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through 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 company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.17, for a total transaction of $162,976.59. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 83,211 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,335,245.87. The trade was a 1.92% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 73,846 shares of company stock valued at $9,239,073 over the last quarter. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Qualys Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ QLYS opened at $137.48 on Monday. Qualys, Inc. has a 12 month low of $74.51 and a 12 month high of $167.86. The company has a market cap of $4.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.68 and a beta of 0.61. The business's 50 day moving average is $125.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $110.44.

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

Qualys Company Profile

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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