Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Upgraded to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Thursday.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Westpark Capital reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Qualys from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on shares of Qualys from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Qualys from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Qualys from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $152.80.

Qualys Price Performance

NASDAQ:QLYS opened at $140.71 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $5.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.99 and a beta of 0.56. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $143.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $135.66. Qualys has a one year low of $119.17 and a one year high of $182.45.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.16). Qualys had a return on equity of 40.24% and a net margin of 28.72%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Qualys will post 4.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Qualys

In other news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.66, for a total transaction of $1,047,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 225,453 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,741,295.98. This represents a 3.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 8,555 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.62, for a total value of $1,322,774.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 64,032 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,900,627.84. This trade represents a 11.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 31,259 shares of company stock valued at $4,578,153 over the last ninety days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qualys

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of QLYS. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Qualys by 1.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,246,562 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $160,957,000 after purchasing an additional 20,038 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp grew its holdings in Qualys by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,049,623 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $147,178,000 after acquiring an additional 123,530 shares during the last quarter. CDAM UK Ltd grew its holdings in Qualys by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. CDAM UK Ltd now owns 502,913 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $64,604,000 after acquiring an additional 38,509 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Qualys by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 456,540 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $64,016,000 after acquiring an additional 3,848 shares during the period. Finally, Penserra Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Qualys by 8.3% during the third quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 373,995 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $48,043,000 after acquiring an additional 28,802 shares during the last quarter. 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.