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 published on Saturday morning.

QLYS has been the subject of several other reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Qualys from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Qualys from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Loop Capital decreased their price target on shares of Qualys from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Qualys from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Northland Securities restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $146.00 price target (down from $150.00) on shares of Qualys in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Qualys has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $146.57.

Qualys Stock Up 1.9 %

NASDAQ QLYS opened at $143.76 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.92 and a beta of 0.56. Qualys has a 12-month low of $119.17 and a 12-month high of $174.31. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $141.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $135.31.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 28.59% and a return on equity of 39.64%. Equities analysts expect that Qualys will post 4.31 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Qualys

In other Qualys news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.49, for a total value of $941,430.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 225,453 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,321,173.97. This trade represents a 3.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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 transaction of $1,322,774.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 64,032 shares in the company, valued at $9,900,627.84. This trade represents a 11.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 29,288 shares of company stock valued at $4,209,716. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Amalgamated Bank grew its stake in Qualys by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 16,640 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,333,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in Qualys by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 5,749 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $806,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Financial Enhancement Group LLC lifted its position in Qualys by 1.5% during the third quarter. Financial Enhancement Group LLC now owns 6,100 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $784,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in Qualys by 33.9% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 391 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Qualys by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,089 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $153,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.