Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Upgraded at StockNews.com

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

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Qualys from $175.00 to $170.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Qualys in a research note on Friday, April 26th. They set a sector perform rating and a $172.00 price target for the company. Needham & Company LLC reissued a hold rating on shares of Qualys in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Qualys from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $164.50.

Qualys Price Performance

Shares of QLYS opened at $147.47 on Friday. Qualys has a 1-year low of $131.07 and a 1-year high of $206.35. The stock has a market cap of $5.45 billion, a PE ratio of 34.14 and a beta of 0.49. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $141.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $160.33.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The software maker reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $145.81 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $145.67 million. Qualys had a return on equity of 47.28% and a net margin of 28.48%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Qualys will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Qualys

In other news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 616 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.56, for a total transaction of $83,504.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 92,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,550,144.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 616 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.56, for a total transaction of $83,504.96. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 92,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,550,144.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,330 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.24, for a total transaction of $193,169.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 59,616 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,658,627.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 30,027 shares of company stock valued at $4,216,326. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qualys

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of QLYS. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Qualys by 2.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,839,801 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $640,748,000 after purchasing an additional 83,504 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its stake in shares of Qualys by 9.8% during the 2nd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 809,014 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $115,365,000 after buying an additional 72,261 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Qualys by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 739,205 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $145,095,000 after buying an additional 21,439 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Qualys by 50.9% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 501,847 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $83,743,000 after buying an additional 169,293 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Qualys by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 439,434 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $62,663,000 after acquiring an additional 3,357 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Qualys Company Profile

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.