Qualys’ (QLYS) “Hold” Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC restated their hold rating on shares of Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning,Benzinga reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Qualys from $120.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $146.00 price objective (down previously from $150.00) on shares of Qualys in a report on Monday. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on shares of Qualys from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group upped their target price 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, StockNews.com raised shares of Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $146.57.

Qualys Stock Up 0.5 %

Qualys stock opened at $138.05 on Monday. Qualys has a 52-week low of $119.17 and a 52-week high of $174.31. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $141.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $135.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.69 and a beta of 0.56.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.16). Qualys had a net margin of 28.59% and a return on equity of 39.64%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Qualys will post 4.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Qualys

In other news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 8,555 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now owns 64,032 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,900,627.84. This represents a 11.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Jeffrey P. Hank sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.31, for a total transaction of $585,240.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 12,666 shares in the company, valued at $1,853,162.46. This represents a 24.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 28,746 shares of company stock valued at $4,158,713. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Qualys

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Aigen Investment Management LP acquired a new stake in Qualys in the third quarter valued at approximately $445,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Qualys by 208.5% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 86,187 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $11,072,000 after acquiring an additional 58,252 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Qualys by 428.9% in the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 18,256 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,345,000 after acquiring an additional 14,804 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Qualys by 40.0% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 29,015 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $3,525,000 after acquiring an additional 8,291 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in Qualys by 6.8% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 63,320 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $8,134,000 after acquiring an additional 4,040 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

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.