Qualys, Inc. $QLYS Shares Acquired by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board

Key Points

• Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in Qualys, Inc. by 37.8% during the first quarter, owning 116,200 shares valued at approximately $14.6 million.
• Qualys reported $1.68 earnings per share for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations and showing a year-over-year revenue growth of 10.3%.
• Multiple analysts have raised their price targets for Qualys, with a consensus target now set at $141.00, indicating optimism for the stock's performance.

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) by 37.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 116,200 shares of the software maker's stock after buying an additional 31,900 shares during the quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned approximately 0.32% of Qualys worth $14,633,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Qualys by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 571,016 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $80,068,000 after purchasing an additional 52,256 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC lifted its stake in Qualys by 53.3% during the fourth quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 27,776 shares of the software maker's stock worth $3,895,000 after purchasing an additional 9,662 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Qualys by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 227,310 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $31,866,000 after purchasing an additional 16,965 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in Qualys by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 64,241 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $9,008,000 after purchasing an additional 921 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Qualys by 35.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 296,438 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $41,567,000 after purchasing an additional 77,663 shares during the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Qualys Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of QLYS stock traded down $1.59 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $134.29. 300,421 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 293,884. The stock has a market cap of $4.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.80 and a beta of 0.65. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $136.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $133.16. Qualys, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $112.61 and a fifty-two week high of $170.00.

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 for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $164.06 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $161.25 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.52 EPS. Qualys's revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. 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, analysts anticipate that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John A. Zangardi sold 3,103 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.94, for a total transaction of $418,718.82. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 4,071 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $549,340.74. The trade was a 43.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.95, for a total value of $1,104,575.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 207,920 shares of the company's stock, valued at $27,019,204. This represents a 3.93% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 51,378 shares of company stock valued at $7,139,186. 0.88% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Zacks Research upgraded Qualys to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Wedbush raised their target price on shares of Qualys from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. UBS Group raised their price target on Qualys from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Qualys from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Qualys from $90.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Qualys has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $141.00.

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.