Wedbush Issues Positive Forecast for Qualys Earnings

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) – Wedbush lifted their Q1 2026 earnings estimates for Qualys in a report issued on Wednesday, May 7th. Wedbush analyst D. Ives now forecasts that the software maker will earn $1.09 per share for the quarter, up from their previous estimate of $1.01. Wedbush currently has a “Outperform” rating and a $145.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Qualys’ current full-year earnings is $3.85 per share.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The software maker reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $159.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $157.05 million. Qualys had a net margin of 28.59% and a return on equity of 38.52%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.45 EPS.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on QLYS. Scotiabank set a $142.00 price objective on Qualys and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Qualys from $131.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Qualys from $145.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price objective on shares of Qualys from $163.00 to $158.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com raised Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, April 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $137.50.

Qualys Trading Down 0.9 %

NASDAQ:QLYS opened at $132.31 on Friday. Qualys has a 12-month low of $112.61 and a 12-month high of $170.00. The firm has a market cap of $4.81 billion, a PE ratio of 28.45 and a beta of 0.61. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $125.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $136.13.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qualys

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Qualys by 1,386.2% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 355,699 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $49,876,000 after purchasing an additional 331,766 shares during the period. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC bought a new position in Qualys in the fourth quarter valued at $27,086,000. Penserra Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Qualys by 53.3% in the 1st quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 499,084 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $62,849,000 after buying an additional 173,512 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Qualys by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,312,662 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $604,721,000 after buying an additional 131,339 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its stake in shares of Qualys by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,049,623 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $147,178,000 after buying an additional 123,530 shares during the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Qualys

In other news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.17, for a total transaction of $995,190.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 246,144 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,994,292.48. The trade was a 2.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 4,487 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total transaction of $628,180.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 112,757 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,785,980. The trade was a 3.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 31,156 shares of company stock valued at $4,164,721 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

About Qualys

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.