Truist Financial Corp Raises Position in Qualys, Inc. $QLYS

Key Points

• Truist Financial Corp increased its stake in Qualys, Inc. by 57.3% in the second quarter, owning 5,749 shares worth approximately $821,000.
• Several large investors, including SBI Securities and Manchester Capital Management, have significantly increased their holdings, reflecting growing institutional interest in Qualys, with 99.31% of the stock owned by institutional investors.
• Wall Street analysts have raised their price targets for Qualys, with a current consensus target of $141.00, as the company reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue growth in its latest quarterly results.

Truist Financial Corp grew its position in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) by 57.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 5,749 shares of the software maker's stock after buying an additional 2,094 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp's holdings in Qualys were worth $821,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of QLYS. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Qualys by 82.7% in the first quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 369 shares of the software maker's stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Qualys by 52.4% in the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 436 shares of the software maker's stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in shares of Qualys by 27.9% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 500 shares of the software maker's stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Qualys by 82.0% in the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 484 shares of the software maker's stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP grew its stake in shares of Qualys by 154.9% in the first quarter. Quarry LP now owns 576 shares of the software maker's stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares during the period. 99.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on QLYS. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Qualys from $90.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Qualys from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Qualys from $142.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Qualys from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Qualys from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $141.00.

Qualys Price Performance

QLYS opened at $127.91 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $4.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.53 and a beta of 0.62. Qualys, Inc. has a 1-year low of $112.61 and a 1-year high of $170.00. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $132.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $133.55.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The software maker reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $164.06 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $161.25 million. Qualys had a net margin of 29.04% and a return on equity of 37.19%. The company's revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.52 earnings per share. Qualys has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.200-6.5 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 1.500-1.6 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 8,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.49, for a total value of $1,126,165.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 205,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $27,286,447.99. The trade was a 3.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 541 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.11, for a total transaction of $75,799.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 60,643 shares in the company, valued at $8,496,690.73. This trade represents a 0.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 30,865 shares of company stock valued at $4,092,083. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Qualys Company Profile

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.

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