Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. Takes Position in Qualys, Inc. $QLYS

Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 25,200 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $3,335,000. Qualys makes up 0.7% of Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. owned approximately 0.07% of Qualys as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of QLYS. Boston Trust Walden Corp increased 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 worth $151,688,000 after acquiring an additional 8,425 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 44,000 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in Qualys by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,051,673 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $150,253,000 after purchasing an additional 65,924 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake 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 worth $144,133,000 after purchasing an additional 323,324 shares during the period. Finally, Penserra Capital Management LLC grew its position in Qualys by 9.3% during the 2nd quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 545,380 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $77,918,000 after purchasing an additional 46,296 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

QLYS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on Qualys from $158.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Berenberg Bank initiated coverage on Qualys in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $165.00 price objective for the company. Robert W. Baird set a $150.00 target price on Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $117.00 price target on shares of Qualys in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Qualys from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $143.57.

Qualys Price Performance

Shares of Qualys stock opened at $133.00 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $4.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.78 and a beta of 0.50. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $139.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $135.65. Qualys, Inc. has a 52-week low of $112.61 and a 52-week high of $155.47.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The software maker reported $1.86 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.56 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $169.88 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $166.30 million. Qualys had a return on equity of 37.40% and a net margin of 28.96%.The firm’s revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.56 earnings per share. 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, equities research analysts predict that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Qualys

In related news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.76, for a total value of $668,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 247,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,145,728. This represents a 1.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,101 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.34, for a total value of $145,706.34. Following the transaction, the insider owned 68,598 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,078,259.32. This trade represents a 1.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 34,214 shares of company stock valued at $4,880,609. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.