Qualys, Inc. $QLYS Holdings Boosted by Fundsmith LLP

Fundsmith LLP grew its stake in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 21.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 870,859 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 152,257 shares during the quarter. Qualys makes up 0.6% of Fundsmith LLP’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Fundsmith LLP owned about 2.43% of Qualys worth $115,241,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in QLYS. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Qualys in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in Qualys by 451.0% during the 3rd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 270 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Qualys during the 3rd quarter worth $55,000. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. acquired a new stake in Qualys in the third quarter worth $62,000. Finally, Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Qualys in the second quarter worth $73,000. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 6,799 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.46, for a total value of $873,399.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.76, for a total transaction of $668,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 247,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,145,728. This trade represents a 1.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 30,744 shares of company stock worth $4,186,464. 0.88% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Berenberg Bank started coverage on shares of Qualys in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. They set a “hold” rating and a $165.00 price target for the company. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Qualys from $139.00 to $135.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 6th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Qualys in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and set a $120.00 target price (down from $130.00) on shares of Qualys in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Qualys from $140.00 to $134.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $140.46.

Qualys Stock Performance

Shares of QLYS opened at $99.71 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.33 and a beta of 0.62. Qualys, Inc. has a one year low of $85.14 and a one year high of $155.47. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $115.14 and its 200-day moving average is $129.20.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The software maker reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.09. The business 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 quarterly revenue was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company 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. Analysts forecast that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.