Willis Investment Counsel Purchases 9,626 Shares of Qualys, Inc. $QLYS

Willis Investment Counsel lifted its position in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 68.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,611 shares of the software maker’s stock after buying an additional 9,626 shares during the quarter. Willis Investment Counsel owned approximately 0.07% of Qualys worth $3,373,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in QLYS. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. purchased a new position in Qualys during the second quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Qualys by 52.4% during the 1st quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 436 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Qualys by 82.0% during the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 484 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its position in Qualys by 154.9% during the first quarter. Quarry LP now owns 576 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Qualys in the second quarter worth about $115,000. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on QLYS shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Qualys from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Berenberg Bank began coverage on shares of Qualys in a report on Tuesday. They set a “hold” rating and a $165.00 price objective on the stock. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective (down from $145.00) on shares of Qualys in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Qualys from $150.00 to $139.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Qualys from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $142.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 8,500 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.82, for a total value of $1,077,970.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 203,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,865,065.82. This trade represents a 4.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John A. Zangardi sold 3,103 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.94, for a total transaction of $418,718.82. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 4,071 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $549,340.74. The trade was a 43.25% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 24,999 shares of company stock worth $3,319,509. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Qualys Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ QLYS opened at $137.90 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.94 billion, a PE ratio of 27.52 and a beta of 0.58. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $133.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $135.64. Qualys, Inc. has a 1 year low of $112.61 and a 1 year high of $159.73.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The software maker reported $1.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.56 by $0.30. Qualys had a net margin of 29.04% and a return on equity of 37.19%. The business had revenue of $169.88 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $166.30 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.56 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. Qualys has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.930-7.000 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 1.730-1.800 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 EPS for the current year.

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.