Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Given New $117.00 Price Target at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) had its price objective lowered by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $122.00 to $117.00 in a research report report published on Monday,Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an underweight rating on the software maker’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on QLYS. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Qualys from $162.00 to $135.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Northland Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $146.00 target price (down previously from $150.00) on shares of Qualys in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their target price on shares of Qualys from $170.00 to $163.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Qualys from $120.00 to $90.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $140.53.

Qualys Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of Qualys stock opened at $126.25 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.15 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $126.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $135.93. Qualys has a 12-month low of $112.61 and a 12-month high of $172.70.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.16). Qualys had a net margin of 28.59% and a return on equity of 38.52%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Qualys will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Qualys news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 524 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.38, for a total transaction of $67,795.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 65,053 shares in the company, valued at $8,416,557.14. This trade represents a 0.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.17, for a total transaction of $995,190.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 246,144 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,994,292.48. The trade was a 2.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 26,138 shares of company stock worth $3,519,970 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qualys

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Qualys by 1.1% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 110,027 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $13,856,000 after buying an additional 1,177 shares in the last quarter. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Qualys by 24.4% in the first quarter. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 41,370 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $5,210,000 after buying an additional 8,120 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its position in shares of Qualys by 153.3% in the first quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 43,710 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $5,504,000 after buying an additional 26,452 shares in the last quarter. Novem Group raised its position in shares of Qualys by 35.0% in the first quarter. Novem Group now owns 7,008 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $883,000 after buying an additional 1,817 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Verity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Qualys in the first quarter valued at approximately $360,000. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.