Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Downgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Friday.

Several other research firms also recently commented on QLYS. Stephens reaffirmed an equal weight rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of Qualys in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Qualys in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. They issued a market perform rating and a $170.00 price objective on the stock. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Qualys from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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. Finally, Wedbush decreased their target price on Qualys from $230.00 to $210.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Qualys has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $153.23.

Qualys Price Performance

Qualys stock opened at $166.66 on Friday. Qualys has a one year low of $107.00 and a one year high of $206.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.16 billion, a PE ratio of 41.25 and a beta of 0.51. The business’s fifty day moving average is $169.30 and its 200 day moving average is $174.69.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The software maker reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $144.57 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $144.69 million. Qualys had a return on equity of 49.06% and a net margin of 27.34%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Qualys will post 3.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Qualys

In related news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 5,005 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.05, for a total transaction of $961,210.25. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 182,213 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,994,006.65. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Qualys news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 5,005 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.05, for a total value of $961,210.25. Following the transaction, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 4,120 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.62, for a total value of $690,594.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 194,481 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,598,905.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 15,320 shares of company stock worth $2,711,608. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qualys

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in Qualys by 33.2% in the fourth quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 333 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Qualys by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,756,297 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $737,286,000 after purchasing an additional 16,331 shares during the last quarter. Willner & Heller LLC purchased a new position in shares of Qualys in the fourth quarter worth about $236,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Qualys by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 23,700 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $4,652,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in shares of Qualys in the fourth quarter worth about $18,844,000. 99.31% of the stock is currently 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.