Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Hits New 1-Year Low – Time to Sell?

Shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $104.56 and last traded at $104.79, with a volume of 895994 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $110.28.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on QLYS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Qualys from $117.00 to $113.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Northland Securities set a $162.00 target price on Qualys in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and set a $117.00 price objective on shares of Qualys in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on Qualys from $140.00 to $134.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $150.00 target price on Qualys in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Qualys has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $140.46.

Qualys Trading Up 0.1%

The stock has a market capitalization of $3.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.28 and a beta of 0.53. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $133.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $134.03.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The software maker reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.09. Qualys had a return on equity of 37.65% and a net margin of 29.64%.The business had revenue of $175.28 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $173.18 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.60 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Qualys has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.760-1.830 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 7.170-7.450 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Qualys news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,101 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.34, for a total transaction of $145,706.34. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 68,598 shares in the company, valued at $9,078,259.32. This represents a 1.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 5,000 shares of the 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 owned 247,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,145,728. The trade was a 1.98% 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 42,227 shares of company stock valued at $5,875,962. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qualys

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in shares of Qualys by 204.3% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 213 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Qualys during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in Qualys by 451.0% during the third quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 270 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP raised its position in Qualys by 86.8% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 284 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Employees Retirement System of Texas bought a new stake in shares of Qualys in the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Qualys Company Profile

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.