Qualys, Inc. $QLYS Position Lifted by Inspire Investing LLC

Key Points

• Inspire Investing LLC boosted its Qualys stake by 553.6% in the fourth quarter, ending with 22,189 shares worth about $2.95 million. Institutional ownership remains extremely high, with 99.31% of the stock held by institutions.
• Analysts are cautious on Qualys: the consensus rating is Hold with a consensus target price of $122.14. Recent calls included target cuts from Canaccord Genuity and Wedbush, while TD Cowen and others maintained or downgraded ratings.
• Qualys reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $1.95 beating estimates and revenue of $175.64 million topping expectations. The company also guided FY 2026 EPS to 7.44–7.65 and Q2 2026 EPS to 1.73–1.80.

Inspire Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) by 553.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 22,189 shares of the software maker's stock after acquiring an additional 18,794 shares during the quarter. Inspire Investing LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Qualys worth $2,949,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. RWA Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Qualys during the third quarter worth $80,820,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Qualys by 62.4% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 125,636 shares of the software maker's stock worth $16,769,000 after purchasing an additional 48,267 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Qualys by 748.6% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 31,346 shares of the software maker's stock worth $4,148,000 after purchasing an additional 27,652 shares during the period. Comerica Bank raised its holdings in shares of Qualys by 100.6% during the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 22,710 shares of the software maker's stock worth $3,018,000 after purchasing an additional 11,391 shares during the period. Finally, Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH raised its holdings in shares of Qualys by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 208,832 shares of the software maker's stock worth $27,754,000 after purchasing an additional 18,711 shares during the period. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Qualys in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on shares of Qualys from $150.00 to $125.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Qualys from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Wedbush dropped their target price on shares of Qualys from $155.00 to $125.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, William Blair cut shares of Qualys from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Qualys has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $122.14.

Qualys Stock Down 1.3%

QLYS stock opened at $112.18 on Thursday. Qualys, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $74.51 and a fifty-two week high of $155.47. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $96.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $110.84. The stock has a market cap of $3.95 billion, a PE ratio of 20.14 and a beta of 0.66.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The software maker reported $1.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.81 by $0.14. Qualys had a net margin of 29.41% and a return on equity of 37.15%. The business had revenue of $175.64 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $173.63 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.67 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 forecast that Qualys, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Qualys news, Director Thomas Berquist sold 939 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.75, for a total transaction of $103,994.25. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,781 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $750,995.75. This trade represents a 12.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing 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, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 2,384 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.18, for a total transaction of $238,829.12. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 66,301 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,642,034.18. The trade was a 3.47% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 20,516 shares of company stock worth $2,273,413 in the last 90 days. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.