Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Hits New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

Shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $164.21 and last traded at $164.12, with a volume of 768402 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $151.54.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on QLYS. TD Cowen upped their price target on Qualys from $90.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Scotiabank raised Qualys from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $100.00 to $190.00 in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Morgan Stanley set a $96.00 target price on Qualys in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. William Blair lowered shares of Qualys from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price objective on shares of Qualys from $150.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $133.13.

Qualys Price Performance

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $115.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $109.67. The stock has a market cap of $5.78 billion, a PE ratio of 29.47 and a beta of 0.61.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The software maker reported $1.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.81 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $175.64 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $173.63 million. Qualys had a net margin of 29.41% and a return on equity of 37.15%. Qualys’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.67 EPS. Qualys has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.440-7.650 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.730-1.800 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Qualys, Inc. will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Qualys

In related news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,627 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.17, for a total transaction of $162,976.59. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 83,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,335,245.87. This trade represents a 1.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.00, for a total value of $4,050,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 196,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,552,610. This trade represents a 13.23% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 73,846 shares of company stock valued at $9,239,073 in the last 90 days. 0.72% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Qualys

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of QLYS. Strive Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Qualys during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings 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 worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in shares of Qualys by 86.8% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 284 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in Qualys by 206.2% in the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 297 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Employees Retirement System of Texas acquired a new position in Qualys in the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by 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.