Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Grows Stake in Qualys, Inc. $QLYS

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 96.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 72,841 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 35,785 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in Qualys were worth $10,407,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Qualys in the 2nd quarter worth $44,000. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in Qualys by 82.0% in the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 484 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Qualys in the second quarter valued at about $73,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in Qualys by 3,218.8% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 531 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 515 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP grew its stake in shares of Qualys by 154.9% during the first quarter. Quarry LP now owns 576 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Qualys Stock Performance

NASDAQ QLYS opened at $150.03 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.08 and a beta of 0.55. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $136.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $136.65. Qualys, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $112.61 and a fifty-two week high of $157.23.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The software maker reported $1.86 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.56 by $0.30. Qualys had a return on equity of 37.40% and a net margin of 28.96%.The firm had revenue of $169.88 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $166.30 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.56 earnings per share. Qualys’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Qualys has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.930-7.000 EPS and its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.730-1.800 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 7,506 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.59, for a total value of $1,100,304.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 108,074 shares in the company, valued at $15,842,567.66. The trade was a 6.49% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 3,077 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.99, for a total transaction of $449,211.23. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 71,776 shares in the company, valued at $10,478,578.24. This trade represents a 4.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 32,635 shares of company stock valued at $4,486,535 in the last three months. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

QLYS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Truist Financial restated a “hold” rating and set a $130.00 price objective (down previously from $145.00) on shares of Qualys in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Qualys from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Robert W. Baird set a $150.00 price target on shares of Qualys in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Qualys from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $142.14.

Qualys Profile

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.