Insider Selling: Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) CEO Sells 8,500 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Qualys CEO Sumedh Thakar sold 8,500 shares on Dec. 15 at an average price of $147.12 for a total of $1,250,520, reducing his stake to 252,800 shares (a 3.25% decrease), per an SEC filing.
• The company beat quarterly estimates with $1.86 EPS (vs. $1.56 expected) and $169.9M revenue, and issued FY2025 guidance of $6.93–7.00 EPS and Q4 guidance of $1.73–1.80 EPS.
• Shares recently traded at $143.57 (down $1.33) on above-average volume; Qualys has a $5.15B market cap and 27.8x PE, while analysts have an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target of $142.14.

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) CEO Sumedh Thakar sold 8,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.12, for a total transaction of $1,250,520.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 252,800 shares of the company's stock, valued at $37,191,936. This represents a 3.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Qualys Price Performance

Qualys stock traded down $1.33 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $143.57. The stock had a trading volume of 713,216 shares, compared to its average volume of 348,491. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $137.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $137.04. Qualys, Inc. has a 52 week low of $112.61 and a 52 week high of $155.47. The stock has a market cap of $5.15 billion, a PE ratio of 27.82 and a beta of 0.55.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The software maker reported $1.86 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.56 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $169.88 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $166.30 million. Qualys had a net margin of 28.96% and a return on equity of 37.40%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.56 earnings per share. Qualys has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.930-7.000 EPS and its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.730-1.800 EPS. Research analysts predict that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Qualys by 2.8% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 382,100 shares of the software maker's stock worth $54,591,000 after buying an additional 10,359 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Qualys by 100.6% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 136,835 shares of the software maker's stock worth $19,535,000 after acquiring an additional 68,632 shares during the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Qualys by 9.3% in the 2nd quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 545,380 shares of the software maker's stock worth $77,918,000 after acquiring an additional 46,296 shares during the last quarter. Willis Investment Counsel lifted its position in Qualys by 68.8% in the 2nd quarter. Willis Investment Counsel now owns 23,611 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $3,373,000 after acquiring an additional 9,626 shares in the last quarter. Finally, denkapparat Operations GmbH purchased a new stake in Qualys during the 2nd quarter valued at $300,000. 99.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on QLYS shares. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Qualys from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Qualys from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Northland Securities set a $162.00 target price on shares of Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Qualys from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price objective on Qualys from $150.00 to $139.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Qualys presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $142.14.

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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