Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the sixteen analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $143.5714.

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Qualys from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Qualys from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Qualys in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Truist Financial restated a “hold” rating and set a $130.00 price target (down from $145.00) on shares of Qualys in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Berenberg Bank started coverage on Qualys in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. They set a “hold” rating and a $165.00 price target for the company.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 5,000 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was 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 directly owned 247,800 shares in the company, valued at $33,145,728. This trade represents a 1.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,101 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.34, for a total value of $145,706.34. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 68,598 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,078,259.32. This represents a 1.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 34,214 shares of company stock valued at $4,880,609 over the last three months. 0.88% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qualys

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Qualys during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in Qualys by 451.0% in the third quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 270 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in shares of Qualys by 86.8% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 284 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 132 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Qualys during the second quarter worth $44,000. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in Qualys by 127.0% in the 4th quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 345 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Qualys Stock Down 0.4%

QLYS opened at $132.12 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $138.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $135.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.60 and a beta of 0.50. Qualys has a 12-month low of $112.61 and a 12-month high of $155.47.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last issued its quarterly 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 net margin of 28.96% and a return on equity of 37.40%. The firm had revenue of $169.88 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $166.30 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.56 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. Qualys has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.930-7.000 EPS and its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.730-1.800 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Qualys will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

About Qualys

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.