Insider Selling: Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) CEO Sells $4,050,000.00 in Stock

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) CEO Sumedh Thakar sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.00, for a total transaction of $4,050,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 196,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,552,610. This trade represents a 13.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Qualys Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:QLYS opened at $148.12 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $106.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $109.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.59 and a beta of 0.61. Qualys, Inc. has a 52 week low of $74.51 and a 52 week high of $155.47.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The software maker reported $1.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.81 by $0.14. Qualys had a return on equity of 37.15% and a net margin of 29.41%.The business had revenue of $175.64 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $173.63 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.67 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. Qualys has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.440-7.650 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.730-1.800 EPS. Analysts predict that Qualys, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on QLYS shares. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Qualys from $135.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Qualys from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Qualys from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, William Blair cut shares of Qualys from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $125.86.

Institutional Trading of Qualys

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in QLYS. Root Financial Partners LLC grew its position in Qualys by 206.2% in the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 297 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Strive Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Qualys in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its position in shares of Qualys by 204.3% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 213 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in shares of Qualys by 86.8% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 284 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Employees Retirement System of Texas bought a new stake in shares of Qualys during the 4th quarter worth $43,000. 99.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Qualys

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.