StockNews.com Lowers Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) to Hold

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on QLYS. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Qualys in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. They set a market perform rating and a $170.00 target price for the company. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Qualys from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Needham & Company LLC restated a hold rating on shares of Qualys in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Qualys from $175.00 to $170.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Scotiabank assumed coverage on Qualys in a report on Friday, April 26th. They issued a sector perform rating and a $172.00 target price for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Qualys currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $162.23.

Qualys Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of Qualys stock opened at $136.69 on Thursday. Qualys has a 12 month low of $122.53 and a 12 month high of $206.35. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $153.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $171.10. The firm has a market cap of $5.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.64 and a beta of 0.47.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The software maker reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.17. Qualys had a net margin of 28.48% and a return on equity of 47.28%. The firm had revenue of $145.81 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $145.67 million. Analysts forecast that Qualys will post 3.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Jeffrey P. Hank sold 850 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.45, for a total value of $115,132.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 11,353 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,537,763.85. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Jeffrey P. Hank sold 850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.45, for a total transaction of $115,132.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 11,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,537,763.85. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,430 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.91, for a total value of $235,821.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 63,057 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,398,729.87. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 21,543 shares of company stock valued at $3,250,832. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Qualys

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its holdings in shares of Qualys by 36.6% during the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 20,576 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $3,374,000 after acquiring an additional 5,508 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Qualys during the first quarter worth $209,000. Comerica Bank raised its holdings in shares of Qualys by 3.3% during the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 21,380 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $3,568,000 after acquiring an additional 688 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Qualys by 192.8% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 3,402 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $568,000 after acquiring an additional 2,240 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Levin Capital Strategies L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Qualys during the first quarter worth $374,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.