Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases 6,022 Shares of Qualys, Inc. $QLYS

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 6.0% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 106,973 shares of the software maker’s stock after buying an additional 6,022 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Qualys were worth $14,156,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its position in shares of Qualys by 0.7% in the third quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,146,289 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $151,688,000 after purchasing an additional 8,425 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake 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 valued at $159,402,000 after buying an additional 44,000 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in Qualys by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,051,673 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $150,253,000 after acquiring an additional 65,924 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Qualys by 46.9% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,012,100 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $144,133,000 after acquiring an additional 323,324 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Penserra Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Qualys by 9.3% in the second quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 545,380 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $77,918,000 after acquiring an additional 46,296 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Qualys

In related news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 7,506 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.59, for a total transaction of $1,100,304.54. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 3,077 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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. The trade was a 4.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 42,227 shares of company stock valued at $5,875,962 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

QLYS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Qualys in a report on Monday, December 29th. DA Davidson decreased their price target on Qualys from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $117.00 price target on shares of Qualys in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $120.00 price objective (down previously from $130.00) on shares of Qualys in a research note on Friday. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $150.00 target price on shares of Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $140.46.

Qualys Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ QLYS opened at $113.39 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.84 and a beta of 0.53. Qualys, Inc. has a one year low of $107.17 and a one year high of $155.47. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $135.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $134.65.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The software maker reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.09. Qualys had a net margin of 29.64% and a return on equity of 37.65%. The business 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 business posted $1.60 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. Qualys has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.760-1.830 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 7.170-7.450 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.