Wall Street Zen Upgrades Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) to Buy

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Qualys in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Qualys from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on shares of Qualys from $158.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Qualys from $90.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Qualys from $150.00 to $139.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Qualys currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $140.38.

Qualys Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of QLYS stock opened at $149.73 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $131.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $134.47. Qualys has a 12 month low of $112.61 and a 12 month high of $159.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.40 billion, a PE ratio of 29.89 and a beta of 0.58.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The software maker reported $1.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.56 by $0.30. Qualys had a return on equity of 37.19% and a net margin of 29.04%.The company had revenue of $169.88 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $166.30 million. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.56 earnings per share. Qualys has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.930-7.000 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 1.730-1.800 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Qualys will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Qualys

In other Qualys news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 8,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.82, for a total value of $1,077,970.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 203,951 shares in the company, valued at $25,865,065.82. This represents a 4.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.12, for a total value of $68,644.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 56,775 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,217,238. The trade was a 0.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 38,346 shares of company stock valued at $5,028,258. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its position in Qualys by 0.7% during the third quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 12,868 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,703,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Qualys by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,038 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $291,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors grew its position in Qualys by 2.4% in the second quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 4,006 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $572,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Qualys by 4.3% in the second quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC now owns 2,283 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $326,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cim LLC raised its position in Qualys by 1.2% during the first quarter. Cim LLC now owns 8,561 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,078,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Qualys

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.