JPMorgan Chase & Co. Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Stock

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) had its target price upped by research analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $115.00 to $117.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “underweight” rating on the software maker’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price objective suggests a potential downside of 20.26% from the company’s previous close.

QLYS has been the subject of several other research reports. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Qualys from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Robert W. Baird set a $150.00 price target on shares of Qualys in a research report on Wednesday. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Qualys from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Qualys from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Qualys in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Qualys currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $141.07.

Qualys Stock Up 21.1%

Shares of NASDAQ QLYS traded up $25.52 on Wednesday, reaching $146.73. 897,012 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 335,295. Qualys has a 12 month low of $112.61 and a 12 month high of $170.00. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $131.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $134.07. The company has a market cap of $5.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.20 and a beta of 0.58.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The software maker reported $1.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.56 by $0.30. Qualys had a net margin of 29.04% and a return on equity of 37.19%. The business had revenue of $169.88 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $166.30 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.56 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. Qualys has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.930-7.000 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 1.730-1.800 EPS. Analysts forecast that Qualys will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Qualys

In other news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 844 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction on Friday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.80, for a total transaction of $113,771.20. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 93,651 shares in the company, valued at $12,624,154.80. This trade represents a 0.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kristi Marie Rogers sold 1,700 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.70, for a total transaction of $228,990.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 8,596 shares in the company, valued at $1,157,881.20. This represents a 16.51% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 38,346 shares of company stock worth $5,028,258. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its stake in shares of Qualys by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,146,289 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $151,688,000 after buying an additional 8,425 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Qualys by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,115,717 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $159,402,000 after buying an additional 44,000 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of Qualys by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,051,673 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $150,253,000 after buying an additional 65,924 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Qualys by 46.9% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,012,100 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $144,133,000 after buying an additional 323,324 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in shares of Qualys by 92.2% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 643,238 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $81,003,000 after buying an additional 308,635 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.