Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Sunday.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. UBS Group boosted their price target on Qualys from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. DA Davidson boosted their price target on Qualys from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Zacks Research upgraded Qualys to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Qualys from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Qualys from $122.00 to $117.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $141.00.

Qualys Stock Performance

QLYS stock opened at $133.10 on Friday. Qualys has a 1 year low of $112.61 and a 1 year high of $170.00. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $137.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $133.68. The firm has a market cap of $4.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.57 and a beta of 0.56.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The software maker reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.21. Qualys had a return on equity of 37.19% and a net margin of 29.04%.The firm had revenue of $164.06 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $161.25 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.52 EPS. Qualys’s revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. Qualys has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.200-6.5 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 1.500-1.6 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Qualys will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Qualys

In other news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 8,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.95, for a total transaction of $1,104,575.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 207,920 shares in the company, valued at $27,019,204. This represents a 3.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director John A. Zangardi sold 1,287 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.03, for a total value of $169,922.61. Following the sale, the director owned 11,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,456,819.02. The trade was a 10.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 52,060 shares of company stock worth $7,247,888. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Qualys

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its holdings in Qualys by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,038 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $291,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors increased its holdings in Qualys by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 4,006 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $572,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Qualys by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC now owns 2,283 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $326,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Cim LLC increased its holdings in Qualys by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Cim LLC now owns 8,561 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,078,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Michigan Retirement System increased its holdings in Qualys by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 8,776 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,105,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.