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

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

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Stephens reiterated an equal weight rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of Qualys in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Wedbush dropped their price target on shares of Qualys from $230.00 to $210.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Qualys from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Qualys from $146.00 to $152.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Qualys from $212.00 to $180.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $153.23.

Qualys Stock Up 0.2 %

QLYS stock opened at $165.20 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $173.93 and its 200-day moving average is $173.78. The company has a market cap of $6.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.89 and a beta of 0.52. Qualys has a twelve month low of $107.00 and a twelve month high of $206.35.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The software maker reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.26. Qualys had a return on equity of 49.06% and a net margin of 27.34%. The firm had revenue of $144.57 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $144.69 million. Research analysts anticipate that Qualys will post 3.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Qualys news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 5,005 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.05, for a total value of $961,210.25. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 182,213 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,994,006.65. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 5,005 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.05, for a total transaction of $961,210.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 182,213 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,994,006.65. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 723 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.76, for a total transaction of $119,121.48. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 100,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,523,615.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 15,537 shares of company stock worth $2,784,700. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in QLYS. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Qualys by 3.9% during the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 8,057 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,155,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in shares of Qualys by 70.1% during the first quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 5,721 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $822,000 after acquiring an additional 2,358 shares during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Qualys during the first quarter valued at $1,224,000. Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in Qualys by 2.1% during the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 91,561 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $13,039,000 after purchasing an additional 1,904 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its stake in Qualys by 10.5% during the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 12,237 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,743,000 after purchasing an additional 1,167 shares in the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.