Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Saturday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on QLYS. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Qualys from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Qualys from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Qualys from $90.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Qualys from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Qualys to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $141.00.

Qualys Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of Qualys stock opened at $135.81 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.90 billion, a PE ratio of 27.11 and a beta of 0.65. Qualys has a 12-month low of $112.61 and a 12-month high of $170.00. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $136.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $133.20.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Qualys news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,018 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.26, for a total value of $134,640.68. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 94,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,494,337.68. This represents a 1.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kristi Marie Rogers sold 1,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.70, for a total transaction of $228,990.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 8,596 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,157,881.20. This trade represents a 16.51% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 52,223 shares of company stock valued at $7,257,452. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qualys

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Boston Trust Walden Corp grew its holdings in Qualys by 8.4% in the second quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,137,864 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $162,567,000 after purchasing an additional 88,051 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in Qualys by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,115,717 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $159,402,000 after acquiring an additional 44,000 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of Qualys by 6.7% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,051,673 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $150,253,000 after purchasing an additional 65,924 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Qualys by 46.9% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,012,100 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $144,133,000 after buying an additional 323,324 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in Qualys by 92.2% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 643,238 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $81,003,000 after buying an additional 308,635 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Qualys Company Profile

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.