First Trust Advisors LP Cuts Holdings in Qualys, Inc. $QLYS

First Trust Advisors LP reduced its holdings in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 27.4% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 996,064 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 376,523 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Qualys were worth $87,504,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its holdings in Qualys by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 1,985 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $264,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its holdings in Qualys by 1.8% in the third quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 5,027 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $665,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its position in shares of Qualys by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,038 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $291,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in shares of Qualys by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,178 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $156,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Qualys by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,231 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $164,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Qualys from $85.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price target on shares of Qualys from $150.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley set a $96.00 price target on Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Qualys from $135.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $145.00 price objective on shares of Qualys in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $141.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 2,384 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.18, for a total value of $238,829.12. Following the sale, the insider owned 66,301 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,642,034.18. This represents a 3.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.00, for a total value of $4,050,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 196,686 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,552,610. This trade represents a 13.23% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 73,846 shares of company stock valued at $9,239,073. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Qualys Trading Up 2.8%

Shares of NASDAQ QLYS opened at $137.48 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $125.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $110.59. Qualys, Inc. has a 52 week low of $74.51 and a 52 week high of $167.86. The stock has a market cap of $4.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.68 and a beta of 0.61.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The software maker reported $1.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81 by $0.14. Qualys had a net margin of 29.41% and a return on equity of 37.15%. The company had revenue of $175.64 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $173.63 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.67 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Qualys has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.440-7.650 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.730-1.800 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Qualys, Inc. will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Qualys Company 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.