Qualys, Inc. $QLYS Shares Acquired by Lazard Asset Management LLC

Key Points

• Lazard Asset Management increased its Qualys stake by 118.6% in the first quarter, owning 37,714 shares valued at approximately $3.3 million. Institutional investors collectively hold 99.31% of the company’s stock.
• Qualys reported quarterly adjusted earnings of $1.95 per share, exceeding estimates of $1.81, while revenue rose 9.8% year over year to $175.64 million. The stock opened at $144.75, up 2.1%.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed, with a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $142.53; targets range from $100 to $190. Meanwhile, insiders sold 75,228 shares worth about $9.46 million during the last quarter.

Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) by 118.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 37,714 shares of the software maker's stock after buying an additional 20,462 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.11% of Qualys worth $3,313,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Qualys by 206.2% during the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 297 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Strive Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Qualys during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 143 shares during the period. Employees Retirement System of Texas acquired a new stake in shares of Qualys during the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Qualys by 127.0% in the fourth quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 345 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.31% of the company's stock.

Qualys Trading Up 2.1%

Qualys stock opened at $144.75 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $128.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $110.82. The stock has a market cap of $5.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.99 and a beta of 0.61. Qualys, Inc. has a 12-month low of $74.51 and a 12-month high of $167.86.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The software maker reported $1.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.81 by $0.14. The firm 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 in the prior year, the company posted $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. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Qualys, Inc. will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 30,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.00, for a total transaction of $4,050,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 196,686 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $26,552,610. This trade represents a 13.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Thomas Berquist sold 939 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.75, for a total value of $103,994.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,781 shares of the company's stock, valued at $750,995.75. This trade represents a 12.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 75,228 shares of company stock worth $9,457,674. Insiders own 0.72% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

QLYS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Scotiabank raised shares of Qualys from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $100.00 to $190.00 in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Qualys from $135.00 to $100.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. William Blair downgraded shares of Qualys from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Qualys from $90.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $145.00 price objective on shares of Qualys in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $142.53.

Qualys 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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