Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Insider Bruce Posey Sells 881 Shares of Company Stock

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) insider Bruce Posey sold 881 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.52, for a total transaction of $166,967.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 57,807 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,955,582.64. This trade represents a 1.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Qualys Stock Performance

QLYS stock opened at $196.70 on Thursday. Qualys, Inc. has a 52 week low of $74.51 and a 52 week high of $206.25. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $183.17 and its 200 day moving average is $141.18. The firm has a market cap of $6.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.03 and a beta of 0.60.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The software maker reported $1.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.20. Qualys had a net margin of 29.38% and a return on equity of 37.52%. The business had revenue of $182.18 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $178.57 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.68 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. Qualys has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.740-7.880 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.910-1.980 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Qualys, Inc. will post 5.84 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qualys

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of QLYS. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Qualys during the third quarter valued at approximately $321,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Qualys by 54.5% during the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,222 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $229,000 after acquiring an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. Willis Investment Counsel raised its holdings in shares of Qualys by 11.7% during the third quarter. Willis Investment Counsel now owns 63,845 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $11,952,000 after acquiring an additional 6,689 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in Qualys in the third quarter worth $905,000. Finally, Abel Hall LLC lifted its stake in Qualys by 8.9% in the third quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 2,070 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $388,000 after acquiring an additional 169 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

QLYS has been the subject of several analyst reports. Northland Securities set a $208.00 target price on Qualys in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Zacks Research upgraded Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Robert W. Baird set a $160.00 price target on Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $190.00 price target on Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Qualys from $135.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $183.62.

About Qualys

Qualys, Inc is a cloud-based cybersecurity company that helps organizations identify, assess and manage security risks across information technology environments. Its platform is designed to provide visibility into assets, vulnerabilities, configurations and compliance requirements across on-premises infrastructure, endpoints, networks, applications and cloud environments.

The company’s offerings include vulnerability management, detection and response, policy compliance, asset inventory, web application security, endpoint security and cloud security capabilities.