Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Price Target Raised to $197.00

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) had its price target increased by Royal Bank Of Canada from $180.00 to $197.00 in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank Of Canada currently has a sector perform rating on the software maker’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Qualys from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Qualys from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Morgan Stanley set a $200.00 price target on shares of Qualys in a research note on Tuesday, October 13th. Zacks Research raised shares of Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Qualys from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Qualys currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $195.00.

Qualys Stock Down 5.3%

Qualys stock opened at $173.09 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $191.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $137.75. Qualys has a 12-month low of $74.51 and a 12-month high of $235.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.85 and a beta of 0.54.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 9th. The software maker reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.96 by $0.16. Qualys had a net margin of 29.59% and a return on equity of 37.09%. The business had revenue of $188.05 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $186.63 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.86 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Qualys will post 5.84 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Qualys news, CEO Sumedh Thakar sold 3,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.36, for a total transaction of $609,152.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 177,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,719,989.68. The trade was a 1.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 881 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.52, for a total transaction of $166,967.12. Following the transaction, the insider owned 57,807 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,955,582.64. The trade was a 1.50% 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 sold a total of 11,672 shares of company stock worth $2,192,747 over the last three months. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qualys

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in Qualys by 20.1% in the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 495 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $93,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. raised its position in shares of Qualys by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 2,114 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $396,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Csenge Advisory Group raised its position in shares of Qualys by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 2,016 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $377,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Qualys by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC now owns 5,245 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $982,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Finally, Smith Group Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Qualys by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Smith Group Asset Management LLC now owns 6,396 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,197,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Qualys News

Here’s some of the latest news about QLYS:

• Positive Sentiment: Robert W. Baird, Piper Sandler, Royal Bank of Canada and Morgan Stanley raised their price targets for Qualys. Wedbush and UBS analysts also expect the shares to rise, offering a counterpoint to the recent weakness. Baird price target Piper Sandler price target RBC price target Morgan Stanley price target Wedbush outlook UBS outlook
• Neutral Sentiment: Qualys raised its guidance, but the accompanying coverage questions whether the stock’s valuation already reflects that improvement. The company also recently reported quarterly EPS and revenue above consensus, while revenue grew 10.7% year over year. Guidance and valuation
• Negative Sentiment: Jefferies maintained a Hold rating and lowered its expectations for Qualys’ share price. JPMorgan also cut its price target. Separately, a Seeking Alpha analysis argues that the valuation requires faster growth, reinforcing concerns that current growth may not justify the stock’s valuation. Jefferies outlook Jefferies expectations JPMorgan price target Valuation analysis

Qualys Company Profile

Qualys, Inc. provides cloud-based security and compliance software to help organizations identify and manage cybersecurity risks. Its platform brings together information about an organization’s IT assets and security posture to support vulnerability management, threat detection, and compliance activities. Qualys offers products and services for vulnerability assessment and remediation, cloud security, endpoint protection, web application security, and policy compliance. Its solutions are designed to help customers monitor systems across cloud environments, on-premises infrastructure, and other connected assets.