Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Stock Price Up 5.7% – What’s Next?

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) traded up 5.7% during trading on Wednesday. The company traded as high as $186.65 and last traded at $188.5010. 100,842 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 87% from the average daily volume of 752,572 shares. The stock had previously closed at $178.35.

Analyst Ratings Changes

QLYS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird set a $160.00 price target on Qualys in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Qualys from $145.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Qualys from $139.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Qualys from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on Qualys from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Qualys currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $173.87.

Qualys Stock Up 5.8%

The stock has a market cap of $6.53 billion, a PE ratio of 32.59 and a beta of 0.62. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $171.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $129.84.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $182.18 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $178.57 million. Qualys had a net margin of 29.38% and a return on equity of 37.52%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.68 earnings per share. Qualys has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.740-7.880 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.910-1.980 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Qualys, Inc. will post 5.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Qualys news, Director Wendy Pfeiffer sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.19, for a total value of $79,095.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 12,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,931,499.90. This trade represents a 3.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 3,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.05, for a total transaction of $544,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 180,338 shares in the company, valued at $30,666,476.90. This trade represents a 1.74% 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 sold 9,906 shares of company stock worth $1,620,158 in the last ninety days. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Qualys

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of QLYS. NorthRock Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Qualys by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 13,501 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,856,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its stake in Qualys by 40.5% in the 2nd quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 472 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its stake in shares of Qualys by 2.2% in the first quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 7,296 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $641,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Qualys by 14.9% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,415 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $124,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its stake in Qualys by 206.2% during the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 297 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Qualys Company Profile

Qualys, Inc provides cloud-based information technology, security and compliance solutions for organizations worldwide. Its platform is designed to help businesses identify, assess and manage security vulnerabilities across their networks, endpoints, cloud environments and web applications.

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