Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Reduce” from Brokerages

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) has earned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the twelve analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $153.23.

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on QLYS shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 13th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Qualys from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Wedbush reduced their price objective on shares of Qualys from $230.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Qualys from $212.00 to $180.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Qualys in a research report on Thursday, February 8th.

Qualys Stock Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ QLYS opened at $163.55 on Friday. Qualys has a 12-month low of $107.00 and a 12-month high of $206.35. The company has a market capitalization of $6.05 billion, a PE ratio of 40.48 and a beta of 0.51. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $166.44 and its 200-day moving average is $175.12.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The software maker reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.26. Qualys had a net margin of 27.34% and a return on equity of 49.06%. The business had revenue of $144.57 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $144.69 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Qualys will post 3.35 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Qualys

In other news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 4,034 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.96, for a total transaction of $661,414.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 193,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,743,967.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 4,120 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.62, for a total transaction of $690,594.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 194,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,598,905.22. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 4,034 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.96, for a total value of $661,414.64. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 193,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,743,967.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 14,349 shares of company stock valued at $2,411,812. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in Qualys by 24.9% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 291 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Wallace Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in Qualys by 4.0% in the first quarter. Wallace Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,646 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $275,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Intrust Bank NA raised its stake in Qualys by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Intrust Bank NA now owns 4,984 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $978,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. KLR Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Qualys by 3.3% in the third quarter. KLR Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,384 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $364,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Park Place Capital Corp raised its stake in Qualys by 12.3% in the third quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 733 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $112,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Qualys Company 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.