Bruce Posey Sells 3,077 Shares of Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Stock

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) insider Bruce Posey sold 3,077 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.99, for a total transaction of $449,211.23. Following the transaction, the insider owned 71,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,478,578.24. The trade was a 4.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Qualys Stock Performance

Shares of QLYS traded down $3.55 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $146.08. 436,247 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 346,792. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $135.42 and its 200 day moving average is $136.39. Qualys, Inc. has a 1-year low of $112.61 and a 1-year high of $158.71. The stock has a market cap of $5.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.31 and a beta of 0.55.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The software maker reported $1.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.56 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $169.88 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $166.30 million. Qualys had a return on equity of 37.40% and a net margin of 28.96%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company 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. On average, equities research analysts predict that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qualys

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in QLYS. LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in Qualys by 4.6% during the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 36,751 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $4,628,000 after buying an additional 1,615 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Qualys by 9.0% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 5,602 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $705,000 after acquiring an additional 463 shares in the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board grew its position in Qualys by 56.5% during the 1st quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 11,226 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,414,000 after acquiring an additional 4,054 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Qualys during the 1st quarter valued at $127,000. Finally, Alapocas Investment Partners Inc. bought a new position in Qualys in the 1st quarter valued at $6,705,000. 99.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on QLYS. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on shares of Qualys from $158.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $130.00 target price (down from $145.00) on shares of Qualys 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. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Qualys currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $142.14.

About Qualys

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.