StockNews.com Lowers Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) to Hold

StockNews.com lowered shares of Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Sunday morning.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on QLYS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Qualys from $146.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Stephens reissued an equal weight rating and set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Qualys in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Wedbush lowered their price objective on Qualys from $230.00 to $210.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Qualys from $212.00 to $180.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on Qualys from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Qualys presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $153.23.

Qualys Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of QLYS stock opened at $172.11 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $166.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $175.60. Qualys has a fifty-two week low of $107.00 and a fifty-two week high of $206.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.60 and a beta of 0.51.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The software maker reported $1.08 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $144.57 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $144.69 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Qualys will post 3.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Qualys

In other news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 723 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.76, for a total transaction of $119,121.48. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 100,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,523,615.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,430 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.91, for a total transaction of $235,821.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 63,057 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,398,729.87. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 723 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.76, for a total value of $119,121.48. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 100,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,523,615.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 14,792 shares of company stock valued at $2,455,489. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qualys

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Qualys during the first quarter worth about $26,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its stake in Qualys by 1,666.7% in the first quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 159 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Qualys in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its stake in Qualys by 545.2% in the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 200 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 169 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Qualys by 218.2% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 210 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the period. 99.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Qualys Company Profile

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.