Vanguard Group Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Qualys, Inc. $QLYS

Key Points

• Vanguard Group reduced its stake in Qualys by 0.8% in Q4, selling 36,391 shares and now holds 4,365,407 shares — about 12.17% of the company valued at roughly $580.2 million.
• Qualys beat Q4 expectations with $1.87 EPS versus $1.78 forecast and $175.3M revenue (up 10.1% YoY), and issued Q1 2026 EPS guidance of 1.760–1.830 and FY2026 guidance of 7.170–7.450.
• Analysts are mixed: the consensus rating is Hold with an average target of $137.77, while the stock trades around $92.49 (50‑day MA $90, 200‑day MA $118.29) and has a $3.26 billion market cap.

Vanguard Group Inc. lessened its position in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,365,407 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 36,391 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 12.17% of Qualys worth $580,163,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Qualys in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in Qualys by 451.0% in the third quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 270 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP raised its position in Qualys by 86.8% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 284 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the period. Richardson Financial Services Inc. raised its position in 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. Finally, Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Qualys in the third quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.31% of the company's stock.

Qualys Trading Up 4.5%

Shares of QLYS stock opened at $92.49 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $90.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $118.29. The company has a market cap of $3.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.00 and a beta of 0.58. Qualys, Inc. has a 12 month low of $74.51 and a 12 month high of $155.47.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The software maker reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $175.28 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $173.18 million. Qualys had a net margin of 29.64% and a return on equity of 37.65%. The company's revenue was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.60 earnings per share. 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 forecast that Qualys, Inc. will post 5.38 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Qualys

In related news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 6,799 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.46, for a total transaction of $873,399.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 88,489 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,367,296.94. The trade was a 7.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 6,964 shares of company stock worth $889,923 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Qualys from $117.00 to $113.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Qualys from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $150.00 price target on shares of Qualys in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of Qualys in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of Qualys from $139.00 to $135.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Qualys presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $137.77.

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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