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

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the fourteen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have issued a hold recommendation, two have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $140.4615.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on QLYS shares. Northland Securities set a $162.00 price target on Qualys in a 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. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $150.00 target price on Qualys in a report on Friday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Qualys from $117.00 to $113.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Qualys from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th.

Qualys Trading Down 6.5%

NASDAQ QLYS opened at $86.65 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.11 billion, a PE ratio of 15.93 and a beta of 0.53. Qualys has a 12 month low of $85.14 and a 12 month high of $155.47. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $127.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $132.65.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The software maker reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $175.28 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $173.18 million. Qualys had a net margin of 29.64% and a return on equity of 37.65%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.60 EPS. Qualys has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.760-1.830 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 7.170-7.450 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Qualys will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Qualys

In other news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 3,077 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.99, for a total value of $449,211.23. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 71,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,478,578.24. This trade represents a 4.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 7,506 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.59, for a total transaction of $1,100,304.54. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 108,074 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,842,567.66. This trade represents a 6.49% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 42,227 shares of company stock valued at $5,875,962 over the last ninety days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qualys

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in QLYS. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Qualys by 2.9% during 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 during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Qualys by 24.1% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,372,587 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $182,417,000 after purchasing an additional 266,924 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Qualys by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,256,002 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $168,380,000 after purchasing an additional 48,877 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in Qualys by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,156,412 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $153,687,000 after buying an additional 75,397 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its position 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 during the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.