Jefferies Financial Group Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Stock

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) had its price objective lifted by Jefferies Financial Group from $135.00 to $155.00 in a research report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a hold rating on the software maker’s stock.

QLYS has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Wedbush cut their price target on Qualys from $190.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a research report on Wednesday. Northland Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $140.00 price objective (down from $150.00) on shares of Qualys in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Qualys from $150.00 to $162.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on Qualys from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $152.80.

Qualys Stock Down 0.7 %

QLYS stock opened at $153.99 on Wednesday. Qualys has a twelve month low of $119.17 and a twelve month high of $206.35. The company has a market cap of $5.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.92 and a beta of 0.47. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $126.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $136.10.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The software maker reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $153.87 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $150.74 million. Qualys had a return on equity of 40.24% and a net margin of 28.72%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.24 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Qualys will post 3.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total transaction of $876,470.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 179,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,493,851.29. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total transaction of $876,470.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 179,649 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,493,851.29. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 616 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.54, for a total value of $76,100.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 86,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,695,599.04. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 10,919 shares of company stock valued at $1,360,140. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qualys

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of QLYS. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Qualys in the 3rd quarter worth $252,000. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Qualys by 428.9% during the 3rd 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 during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Qualys by 68.6% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 730 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $94,000 after purchasing an additional 297 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of 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 worth $11,072,000 after acquiring an additional 58,252 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise grew its stake in Qualys by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 13,886 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,784,000 after purchasing an additional 823 shares in the last quarter. 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.