Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the sixteen research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $140.3846.

QLYS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of Qualys from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Qualys from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on Qualys from $158.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Qualys from $90.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th.

Qualys Stock Performance

Qualys stock opened at $143.57 on Friday. Qualys has a twelve month low of $112.61 and a twelve month high of $159.73. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $133.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $135.38. The firm has a market cap of $5.15 billion, a PE ratio of 28.66 and a beta of 0.58.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John A. Zangardi sold 3,103 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.94, for a total value of $418,718.82. Following the sale, the director owned 4,071 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $549,340.74. The trade was a 43.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 540 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.12, for a total transaction of $68,644.80. Following the transaction, the insider owned 56,775 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,217,238. This represents a 0.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 30,559 shares of company stock worth $4,068,904. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qualys

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Qualys by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,401,798 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $582,490,000 after purchasing an additional 123,962 shares in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its stake in Qualys by 0.7% in the third quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,146,289 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $151,688,000 after buying an additional 8,425 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in Qualys by 4.1% in the second 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 during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in Qualys by 2.8% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,081,015 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $143,051,000 after acquiring an additional 29,342 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Qualys by 46.9% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,012,100 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $144,133,000 after acquiring an additional 323,324 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.