Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Raised to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) was upgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Qualys from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Qualys from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Qualys from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on shares of Qualys from $158.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Qualys from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $140.38.

Qualys Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:QLYS opened at $149.73 on Friday. Qualys has a one year low of $112.61 and a one year high of $159.73. The company has a market cap of $5.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.89 and a beta of 0.58. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $131.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $134.67.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The software maker reported $1.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.56 by $0.30. Qualys had a net margin of 29.04% and a return on equity of 37.19%. The company had revenue of $169.88 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $166.30 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.56 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Qualys has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.930-7.000 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 1.730-1.800 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Qualys will post 3.85 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Qualys

In other news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 787 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.17, for a total transaction of $101,656.79. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 92,864 shares in the company, valued at $11,995,242.88. This represents a 0.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John A. Zangardi sold 3,103 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.94, for a total transaction of $418,718.82. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 4,071 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $549,340.74. This represents a 43.25% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 38,346 shares of company stock worth $5,028,258. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Qualys

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Qualys in the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in Qualys by 451.0% during the third quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 270 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. bought a new stake in Qualys in the second quarter worth approximately $44,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Qualys by 82.7% in the first quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 369 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Qualys by 52.4% in the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 436 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.31% 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.