KBC Group NV Increases Stock Holdings in Qualys, Inc. $QLYS

KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 251.3% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 27,958 shares of the software maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,000 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Qualys were worth $2,456,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its holdings in Qualys by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 1,985 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $264,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Qualys by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 5,027 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $665,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position 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 valued at $164,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the period. 99.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on QLYS. Wall Street Zen cut Qualys from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. TD Cowen raised their target price on Qualys from $90.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. 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 for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Qualys from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $87.00 to $139.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $141.80.

Qualys Stock Performance

Shares of QLYS stock opened at $137.48 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $125.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $110.59. Qualys, Inc. has a one year low of $74.51 and a one year high of $167.86. The firm has a market cap of $4.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.68 and a beta of 0.61.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The software maker reported $1.95 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $175.64 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $173.63 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.67 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. 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 predict that Qualys, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Qualys

In related news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 13.23% 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, Director Thomas Berquist sold 939 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.75, for a total value of $103,994.25. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,781 shares in the company, valued at approximately $750,995.75. The trade was a 12.16% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 73,846 shares of company stock valued at $9,239,073. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

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.