Wall Street Zen Downgrades Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) to Hold

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on QLYS. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price target on Qualys from $163.00 to $158.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Wedbush decreased their price objective on shares of Qualys from $160.00 to $145.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Qualys from $120.00 to $90.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Qualys from $122.00 to $117.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Scotiabank set a $142.00 price target on shares of Qualys and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Qualys currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $137.50.

Qualys Stock Performance

QLYS opened at $138.78 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.85 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a 50-day moving average of $131.41 and a 200-day moving average of $135.48. Qualys has a 1-year low of $112.61 and a 1-year high of $170.00.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The software maker reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.21. Qualys had a return on equity of 38.52% and a net margin of 28.59%. The firm had revenue of $159.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $157.05 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.45 earnings per share. Qualys’s quarterly revenue was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Qualys will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Qualys

In other Qualys news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.81, for a total transaction of $866,670.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 246,313 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,496,012.53. The trade was a 2.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 524 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.38, for a total value of $67,795.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 65,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,416,557.14. The trade was a 0.80% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,472 shares of company stock worth $3,181,068 in the last ninety days. 0.88% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Qualys in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Qualys during the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Qualys by 88.1% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 333 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares during the period. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Qualys in the 4th quarter worth approximately $54,000. Finally, Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Qualys by 52.4% in the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 436 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is 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.