Qualys, Inc. $QLYS Shares Sold by Fisher Asset Management LLC

Key Points

• Fisher Asset Management cut its Qualys stake by 9.8% in the fourth quarter, selling 12,909 shares and leaving it with 118,743 shares worth about $15.8 million.
• Qualys beat earnings expectations in its latest quarter, reporting $1.95 EPS versus the $1.81 estimate and revenue of $175.64 million, up 9.8% year over year.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious: the stock has a consensus "Hold" rating, with several firms trimming price targets even though the average target remains above the current share price.

Fisher Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) by 9.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 118,743 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 12,909 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC owned about 0.33% of Qualys worth $15,781,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in Qualys by 86.8% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 284 shares of the software maker's stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in Qualys by 127.0% during the 4th quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 345 shares of the software maker's stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Qualys during the 3rd quarter worth $55,000. Horizon Investments LLC acquired a new position in Qualys during the 3rd quarter worth $57,000. Finally, Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. acquired a new position in Qualys during the 3rd quarter worth $62,000. 99.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Qualys Stock Performance

Qualys stock opened at $98.32 on Thursday. The firm's 50-day moving average is $90.21 and its 200-day moving average is $114.30. Qualys, Inc. has a 1 year low of $74.51 and a 1 year high of $155.47. The company has a market cap of $3.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.65 and a beta of 0.58.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The software maker reported $1.95 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $173.63 million. Qualys had a net margin of 29.41% and a return on equity of 37.15%. Qualys's quarterly revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.67 EPS. 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 predict that Qualys, Inc. will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Qualys from $120.00 to $85.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley set a $96.00 price target on shares of Qualys in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Qualys from $135.00 to $100.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. TD Cowen restated a "hold" rating on shares of Qualys in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Qualys from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $122.14.

Insider Activity at Qualys

In other news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,627 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.17, for a total value of $162,976.59. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 83,211 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,335,245.87. This trade represents a 1.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 2,384 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.18, for a total transaction of $238,829.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 66,301 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,642,034.18. This trade represents a 3.47% 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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 5,041 shares of company stock worth $505,202. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Qualys

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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