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 report issued on Saturday.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Wedbush dropped their target price on shares of 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 dropped their price target on shares of Qualys from $212.00 to $180.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Stephens reiterated an equal weight rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of Qualys in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Qualys from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Qualys in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. They set a market perform rating and a $170.00 price target on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Qualys currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $153.23.

Qualys Stock Performance

Shares of QLYS opened at $164.46 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $167.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $175.14. The stock has a market cap of $6.08 billion, a PE ratio of 40.71 and a beta of 0.51. Qualys has a fifty-two week low of $107.00 and a fifty-two week high of $206.35.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last issued 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. Qualys had a net margin of 27.34% and a return on equity of 49.06%. The firm had revenue of $144.57 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $144.69 million. Equities research analysts predict that Qualys will post 3.35 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Qualys news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 4,120 shares of Qualys 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,598,905.22. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,912 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.04, for a total transaction of $315,556.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 97,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,037,927.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 4,120 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.62, for a total transaction of $690,594.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 194,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,598,905.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 10,315 shares of company stock valued at $1,750,397 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qualys

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in shares of Qualys by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,045,674 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $576,145,000 after acquiring an additional 56,825 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Qualys by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,756,297 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $737,286,000 after acquiring an additional 16,331 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Qualys by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,218,298 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $158,386,000 after acquiring an additional 24,307 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA raised its stake in shares of Qualys by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 1,137,107 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $173,466,000 after acquiring an additional 54,219 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Qualys by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,025,342 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $156,416,000 after acquiring an additional 62,384 shares in the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.