Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) Stock Has Consensus Target Price of $183.62

Shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the sixteen research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $185.87.

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Qualys from $150.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Qualys from $100.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Morgan Stanley set a $200.00 target price on Qualys in a research report on Tuesday, October 13th. Zacks Research upgraded Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $160.00 target price on Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th.

Qualys Stock Performance

Shares of QLYS stock opened at $199.63 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $6.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.11 and a beta of 0.54. Qualys has a 52 week low of $74.51 and a 52 week high of $235.54. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $190.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $136.42.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The software maker reported $1.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.20. Qualys had a net margin of 29.38% and a return on equity of 37.52%. The firm had revenue of $182.18 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $178.57 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.68 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Qualys will post 5.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sumedh Thakar sold 3,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.36, for a total value of $609,152.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 177,138 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,719,989.68. The trade was a 1.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 2,659 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.66, for a total transaction of $557,485.94. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 68,208 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,300,489.28. This trade represents a 3.75% 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 11,672 shares of company stock valued at $2,192,747. 0.72% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Qualys in the 2nd quarter valued at about $792,316,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in shares of Qualys during the 2nd quarter valued at about $197,624,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Qualys by 127.0% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 832,796 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $73,161,000 after purchasing an additional 465,952 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Qualys by 6.4% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 763,099 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $67,041,000 after purchasing an additional 45,718 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of Qualys by 3.6% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 497,600 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $43,714,000 after purchasing an additional 17,300 shares during the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Qualys

Qualys, Inc is a cloud-based cybersecurity company that helps organizations identify, assess and manage security risks across information technology environments. Its platform is designed to provide visibility into assets, vulnerabilities, configurations and compliance requirements across on-premises infrastructure, endpoints, networks, applications and cloud environments.

The company’s offerings include vulnerability management, detection and response, policy compliance, asset inventory, web application security, endpoint security and cloud security capabilities.