Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) Short Interest Update

Key Points

• Short interest jumped 30.9% to 3,987,298 shares as of March 31, representing about 11.3% of shares sold short and a short-interest ratio of 5.4 days based on average daily volume.
• Qualys beat quarterly estimates with $1.87 EPS vs. $1.78 expected and revenue of $175.28M (up 10.1% year-over-year), and issued Q1 2026 EPS guidance of $1.760–1.830 and FY2026 guidance of $7.170–7.450.
• Company insiders sold 11,479 shares worth roughly $1.5M over the last quarter (insiders now own 0.88% of shares), while institutional investors hold about 99.31% of the stock.

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 3,987,298 shares, an increase of 30.9% from the March 15th total of 3,046,355 shares. Approximately 11.3% of the company's shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 732,234 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.4 days.

Qualys Price Performance

Shares of QLYS traded up $1.95 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $85.17. The stock had a trading volume of 821,352 shares, compared to its average volume of 721,196. The firm has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.66 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $96.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $122.07. Qualys has a twelve month low of $74.51 and a twelve month high of $155.47.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The software maker reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.09. Qualys had a return on equity of 37.65% and a net margin of 29.64%.The business had revenue of $175.28 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $173.18 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.60 EPS. Qualys's revenue for the quarter was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Qualys has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.760-1.830 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 7.170-7.450 EPS. Analysts forecast that Qualys will post 3.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Qualys

In other news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,101 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.34, for a total value of $145,706.34. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 6,799 shares of the company'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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 88,489 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,367,296.94. This represents a 7.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 11,479 shares of company stock worth $1,498,671. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in QLYS. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Qualys by 62.4% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 125,636 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $16,769,000 after acquiring an additional 48,267 shares during the last quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Qualys during the third quarter valued at approximately $80,820,000. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in Qualys by 26.3% in the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 87,217 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $11,541,000 after purchasing an additional 18,164 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in Qualys by 748.6% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 31,346 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $4,148,000 after purchasing an additional 27,652 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH grew its stake in Qualys by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 208,832 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $27,754,000 after purchasing an additional 18,711 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.31% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on QLYS. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Qualys in a report on Monday, December 29th. DA Davidson lowered their target price on Qualys from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $150.00 price target on shares of Qualys in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Qualys from $140.00 to $134.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an "underweight" rating and set a $117.00 price objective on shares of Qualys in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Qualys has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $140.46.

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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