Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Trading Down 8.6% Following Insider Selling

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) shares fell 8.6% during trading on Friday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $121.00 and last traded at $116.8570. 139,369 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average session volume of 434,913 shares. The stock had previously closed at $127.81.

Specifically, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 6,799 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.46, for a total value of $873,399.54. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 88,489 shares in the company, valued at $11,367,296.94. The trade was a 7.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 3,414 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.63, for a total value of $463,040.82. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 88,489 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,001,763.07. The trade was a 3.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

QLYS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Scotiabank reduced their price target on Qualys from $139.00 to $135.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Wall Street Zen upgraded Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and set a $120.00 price target (down previously from $130.00) on shares of Qualys in a research report on Friday. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $150.00 price target on shares of Qualys in a research note on Friday. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $140.46.

Key Headlines Impacting Qualys

Here are the key news stories impacting Qualys this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results beat expectations — EPS $1.87 vs. $1.78 est; revenue $175.3M vs. $173.2M and revenue +10.1% YoY, showing steady growth and margin expansion. Qualys Q4 Earnings Surpass Expectations, Revenues Increase Y/Y
• Positive Sentiment: Management raised forward guidance: FY2026 EPS 7.170–7.450 (vs. consensus ~6.59) and Q1 EPS 1.760–1.830 (vs. ~1.57), which signals confidence in underlying business momentum. Qualys Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Financial Results
• Positive Sentiment: Board authorized a $200M increase to the share repurchase program — a capital return that reduces float and supports EPS. Qualys Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Financial Results
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support: Wedbush reaffirmed an Outperform rating and $155 price target, implying substantial upside versus current levels. Wedbush Reaffirms Outperform, $155 PT
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings call and presentation emphasize strategic initiatives, stronger channel sales and expanding margins — useful for longer-term thesis but less immediately market-moving than headline beats/guidance. Qualys Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Despite the beat and upgraded guidance, the stock is down today on heavy volume and sits below its 50- and 200-day moving averages — suggesting short-term profit-taking, broader sector pressure or a market re-rating. (Trading stats and moving averages from market data released with the earnings updates.)

Qualys Stock Down 13.3%

The firm’s 50 day moving average is $137.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $135.06. The stock has a market cap of $3.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.37 and a beta of 0.53.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The software maker reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.09. Qualys had a return on equity of 38.56% and a net margin of 29.64%.The company had revenue of $175.28 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $173.18 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.60 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Qualys has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.760-1.830 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 7.170-7.450 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Qualys

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Qualys by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,401,798 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $582,490,000 after purchasing an additional 123,962 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its position in shares of Qualys by 0.7% during the third quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,146,289 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $151,688,000 after buying an additional 8,425 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in Qualys by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,115,717 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $159,402,000 after buying an additional 44,000 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in Qualys by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,081,015 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $143,051,000 after acquiring an additional 29,342 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Qualys by 46.9% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,012,100 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $144,133,000 after acquiring an additional 323,324 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.31% 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.