Key Points
- Qualys CEO Sumedh Thakar sold 10,000 shares on June 29 at an average price of $126.75, totaling about $1.27 million. The sale was made under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan and reduced his ownership by 4.23%.
- Qualys stock was trading up 7.1%, opening at $137.49, after recent momentum in the cybersecurity sector and a JPMorgan upgrade from underweight to neutral with a higher $139 price target.
- The company recently reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings and revenue, and reaffirmed FY2026 guidance, though Wall Street sentiment remains mixed with an overall Hold rating.
Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) CEO Sumedh Thakar sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.75, for a total value of $1,267,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 226,686 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $28,732,450.50. This trade represents a 4.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.
Qualys Trading Up 7.1%
Shares of Qualys stock opened at $137.49 on Wednesday. Qualys, Inc. has a 1 year low of $74.51 and a 1 year high of $155.47. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $102.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $108.99. The company has a market cap of $4.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.68 and a beta of 0.66.
Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The software maker reported $1.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $1.67 EPS. The business'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 forecast that Qualys, Inc. will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
More Qualys News
Here are the key news stories impacting Qualys this week:
- Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan Chase upgraded Qualys from underweight to neutral and raised its price target sharply to $139 from $87, which likely helped support buying interest. Benzinga report on JPMorgan upgrade
- Positive Sentiment: The stock has also been benefiting from recent strength in the cybersecurity space, with a Zacks note highlighting a prior session’s jump on above-average volume. Zacks article on QLYS share strength
- Neutral Sentiment: Qualys also reported strong quarterly results earlier this month, beating earnings and revenue estimates and reaffirming FY2026 guidance, which continues to support the longer-term bull case.
- Neutral Sentiment: Broker sentiment remains mixed overall, with the stock still carrying an average Hold rating despite the JPMorgan upgrade.
- Negative Sentiment: CEO Sumedh S. Thakar disclosed another sale of 10,000 shares under a pre-arranged 10b5-1 plan, which can create some investor caution even though the sale was scheduled in advance.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on QLYS shares. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Qualys from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wedbush reduced their price objective on Qualys from $155.00 to $125.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. TD Cowen reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Qualys in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Qualys from $135.00 to $100.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their target price on Qualys from $120.00 to $85.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $125.86.
Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on Qualys
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Qualys by 24.1% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,372,587 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $182,417,000 after purchasing an additional 266,924 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Qualys by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,256,002 shares of the software maker's stock worth $168,380,000 after buying an additional 48,877 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of Qualys by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,156,412 shares of the software maker's stock worth $153,687,000 after buying an additional 75,397 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Qualys by 46.9% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,012,100 shares of the software maker's stock worth $144,133,000 after buying an additional 323,324 shares during the period. Finally, Fundsmith LLP boosted its stake in Qualys by 21.2% in the 3rd quarter. Fundsmith LLP now owns 870,859 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $115,241,000 after buying an additional 152,257 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.31% of the company's stock.
About Qualys
(
Get Free Report)
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.
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