Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Now Covered by Scotiabank

Analysts at Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) in a report released on Friday, Briefing.com reports. The firm set a “sector perform” rating and a $172.00 price target on the software maker’s stock. Scotiabank’s price objective points to a potential upside of 1.33% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on QLYS. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Qualys in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. They set 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 company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Qualys from $146.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $190.00 price target on shares of Qualys in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Qualys from $212.00 to $180.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Qualys has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $154.57.

Qualys Stock Performance

Shares of QLYS stock opened at $169.74 on Friday. Qualys has a fifty-two week low of $107.00 and a fifty-two week high of $206.35. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $166.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $175.58. The company has a market cap of $6.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.01 and a beta of 0.51.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The software maker reported $1.08 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 company had revenue of $144.57 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $144.69 million. On average, research analysts predict that Qualys will post 3.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Qualys news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,430 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.91, for a total value 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Qualys news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,430 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.91, for a total value of $235,821.30. Following the sale, the insider now owns 63,057 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,398,729.87. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,130 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.49, for a total transaction of $191,523.70. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 96,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,395,445.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 14,792 shares of company stock worth $2,455,489. 1.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Qualys

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of QLYS. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position 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 valued at $737,286,000 after buying an additional 16,331 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA boosted its position in Qualys by 5.0% during the third quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 1,137,107 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $173,466,000 after purchasing an additional 54,219 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in shares of Qualys by 1.5% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 887,988 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $135,463,000 after purchasing an additional 12,794 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Qualys by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 739,205 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $145,095,000 after purchasing an additional 21,439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Qualys by 2.6% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 570,957 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $87,099,000 after purchasing an additional 14,273 shares during the period. 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.