Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Stock Rating Upgraded by Scotiabank

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Scotiabank from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage presently has a $190.00 price target on the software maker’s stock. Scotiabank’s price target indicates a potential upside of 28.27% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on QLYS. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Qualys from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley set a $96.00 price objective on shares of Qualys in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Qualys from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Qualys from $120.00 to $85.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Qualys has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $132.29.

Qualys Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:QLYS opened at $148.12 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $5.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.59 and a beta of 0.61. Qualys has a 1 year low of $74.51 and a 1 year high of $155.47. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $106.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $108.92.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Qualys

In related news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,627 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.17, for a total value of $162,976.59. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 83,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 30,000 shares of the business’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 transaction of $4,050,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 196,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,552,610. This trade represents a 13.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 71,881 shares of company stock worth $8,945,654 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Qualys

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Qualys by 24.1% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,372,587 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $182,417,000 after buying an additional 266,924 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Qualys by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,256,002 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $168,380,000 after purchasing an additional 48,877 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in shares of Qualys by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,156,412 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $153,687,000 after purchasing an additional 75,397 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Qualys by 46.9% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,012,100 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $144,133,000 after purchasing an additional 323,324 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fundsmith LLP raised its position in shares of Qualys by 21.2% during the 3rd quarter. Fundsmith LLP now owns 870,859 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $115,241,000 after purchasing an additional 152,257 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

About Qualys

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.