Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Hits New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday. The stock traded as high as $204.41 and last traded at $201.5790, with a volume of 36099 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $198.68.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Qualys from $139.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Qualys from $145.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Qualys from $160.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Qualys from $145.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $173.87.

Qualys Price Performance

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $178.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $133.93. The company has a market cap of $6.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.69 and a beta of 0.60.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $182.18 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $178.57 million. Qualys had a return on equity of 37.52% and a net margin of 29.38%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.68 earnings per share. 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, analysts forecast that Qualys, Inc. will post 5.84 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Qualys

In other Qualys news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,627 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.04, for a total transaction of $248,996.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 75,743 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,591,708.72. This represents a 2.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Bruce Posey sold 866 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.49, for a total value of $155,438.34. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 58,688 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,533,909.12. This represents a 1.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 7,941 shares of company stock worth $1,326,739 over the last three months. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qualys

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in QLYS. Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in shares of Qualys by 28.8% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 47,295 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $4,155,000 after purchasing an additional 10,569 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of Qualys by 306.4% during the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 36,253 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $3,185,000 after purchasing an additional 27,333 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its stake in Qualys by 63.5% in the 2nd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 17,251 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,372,000 after buying an additional 6,700 shares in the last quarter. Park State Asset Management purchased a new stake in Qualys in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $5,942,000. Finally, Chase Investment Counsel Corp purchased a new position in Qualys during the second quarter worth $2,749,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Qualys Company Profile

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.