Qualys, Inc. $QLYS Stock Position Lifted by Nordea Investment Management AB

Key Points

• Nordea Investment Management AB raised its Qualys stake by 62.4% in Q4 to 125,636 shares (0.35% ownership) worth about $16.77 million, while institutional investors collectively hold 99.31% of the stock.
• Q4 results beat: Qualys reported EPS of $1.87 versus $1.78 consensus and revenue of $175.28M versus $173.18M (revenue +10.1% YoY), and set Q1 2026 EPS guidance of 1.760–1.830 and FY2026 guidance of 7.170–7.450.
• Analyst sentiment is muted with an average rating of "Hold" and an average target of $140.46, as several firms (including JPMorgan, Truist and DA Davidson) recently lowered price targets or issued neutral/underweight ratings.

Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) by 62.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 125,636 shares of the software maker's stock after buying an additional 48,267 shares during the quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB owned 0.35% of Qualys worth $16,769,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Qualys by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,401,798 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $582,490,000 after acquiring an additional 123,962 shares in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its holdings in shares of Qualys by 0.7% during the third quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,146,289 shares of the software maker's stock worth $151,688,000 after acquiring an additional 8,425 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Qualys by 4.1% during the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,115,717 shares of the software maker's stock worth $159,402,000 after acquiring an additional 44,000 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in Qualys by 2.8% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,081,015 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $143,051,000 after purchasing an additional 29,342 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Qualys by 46.9% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,012,100 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $144,133,000 after purchasing an additional 323,324 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.31% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on QLYS shares. Truist Financial reaffirmed a "hold" rating and issued a $120.00 target price (down from $130.00) on shares of Qualys in a research report on Friday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Qualys from $117.00 to $113.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 6th. DA Davidson lowered their price target on Qualys from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Qualys in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and set a $117.00 price objective on shares of Qualys in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $140.46.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 5,000 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.76, for a total value of $668,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 247,800 shares of the company's stock, valued at $33,145,728. This trade represents a 1.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,101 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.34, for a total transaction of $145,706.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 68,598 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,078,259.32. The trade was a 1.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 21,232 shares of company stock valued at $2,789,020 over the last 90 days. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Qualys Price Performance

NASDAQ QLYS opened at $92.29 on Wednesday. Qualys, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $85.14 and a fifty-two week high of $155.47. The stock's 50-day moving average is $109.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $127.20. The firm has a market cap of $3.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.97 and a beta of 0.63.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The software maker reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $175.28 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $173.18 million. Qualys had a return on equity of 37.65% and a net margin of 29.64%.The firm's revenue was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.60 EPS. Qualys has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.760-1.830 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 7.170-7.450 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 EPS for the current year.

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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