Wesbanco Bank Inc. Increases Stake in Qualys, Inc. $QLYS

Key Points

• Wesbanco Bank Inc. increased its stake in Qualys, Inc. by 52.6%, owning $1.45 million worth of shares after acquiring an additional 3,500 shares in the second quarter.
• Insider trading activity includes Director Kristi Marie Rogers selling 1,700 shares and CFO Joo Mi Kim selling 1,018 shares, with insiders having sold a total of 43,065 shares valued at nearly $6 million in the last ninety days.
• Several analysts have raised their price targets for Qualys, with the average target now at $141.00, and the company recently reported earnings per share of $1.68, exceeding expectations.

Wesbanco Bank Inc. raised its position in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) by 52.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,156 shares of the software maker's stock after purchasing an additional 3,500 shares during the period. Wesbanco Bank Inc.'s holdings in Qualys were worth $1,451,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Qualys in the fourth quarter worth about $273,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in Qualys by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 42,231 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $5,922,000 after acquiring an additional 3,160 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Qualys during the 4th quarter worth about $680,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Qualys during the fourth quarter worth $213,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Qualys by 40.8% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 12,246 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $1,717,000 after acquiring an additional 3,548 shares during the period. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Qualys Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:QLYS traded down $0.93 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $134.86. 107,983 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 331,402. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $134.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $132.98. The company has a market cap of $4.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.86 and a beta of 0.65. Qualys, Inc. has a 1 year low of $112.61 and a 1 year high of $170.00.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The software maker reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $164.06 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $161.25 million. Qualys had a return on equity of 37.19% and a net margin of 29.04%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.52 EPS. 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, research analysts forecast that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on QLYS. DA Davidson increased their target price 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Qualys from $90.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Qualys from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Qualys from $142.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of Qualys from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $141.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kristi Marie Rogers sold 1,700 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.70, for a total value of $228,990.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 8,596 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,157,881.20. The trade was a 16.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John A. Zangardi sold 3,103 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.94, for a total transaction of $418,718.82. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 4,071 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $549,340.74. This represents a 43.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 51,040 shares of company stock valued at $7,030,879 over the last quarter. 0.88% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Qualys 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.