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

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) has been given an average rating of “Hold” by the sixteen analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have given a hold recommendation, two have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $143.5714.

QLYS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Qualys from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and set a $117.00 price objective on shares of Qualys in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Qualys from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. Finally, Truist Financial reissued 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.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 247,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,145,728. This trade represents a 1.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing 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 on Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.34, for a total transaction of $145,706.34. Following the transaction, the insider owned 68,598 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,078,259.32. The trade was a 1.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 34,214 shares of company stock valued at $4,880,609. 0.88% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qualys

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Qualys during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in shares of Qualys by 86.8% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 284 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Qualys during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. raised its stake 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 during the period. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Qualys Stock Performance

Shares of Qualys stock opened at $132.12 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.74 billion, a PE ratio of 25.60 and a beta of 0.50. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $138.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $135.60. Qualys has a 52-week low of $112.61 and a 52-week 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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.56 by $0.30. Qualys had a net margin of 28.96% and a return on equity of 37.40%. The company had revenue of $169.88 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $166.30 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.56 EPS. 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 and its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.730-1.800 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Qualys will post 3.85 EPS for the current year.

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.