Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Sets New 52-Week High – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) hit a new 52-week high on Monday. The stock traded as high as $204.99 and last traded at $204.6030, with a volume of 1,049 shares. The stock had previously closed at $202.42.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Qualys from $135.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $190.00 price target on shares of Qualys in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Robert W. Baird set a $160.00 price target on shares of Qualys in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Zacks Research raised shares of Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Qualys from $139.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $180.53.

Qualys Trading Up 0.7%

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $182.56 and its 200-day moving average is $136.86. The stock has a market cap of $6.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.69 and a beta of 0.60.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last announced its quarterly 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 posted $1.68 earnings per share. Qualys’s revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 analysts predict that Qualys, Inc. will post 5.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Qualys

In related news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,627 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.04, for a total value of $248,996.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 75,743 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,591,708.72. This represents a 2.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Wendy Pfeiffer sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 20th. The shares were 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 represents a 3.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 7,941 shares of company stock worth $1,326,739. Insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Qualys in the second quarter valued at about $792,316,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in Qualys during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $197,624,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in Qualys by 127.0% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 832,796 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $73,161,000 after acquiring an additional 465,952 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Qualys by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 763,099 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $67,041,000 after acquiring an additional 45,718 shares during the period. Finally, Clark Capital Management Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Qualys by 402.2% in the 4th quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 363,593 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $48,322,000 after acquiring an additional 291,192 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

About Qualys

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.