JPMorgan Chase & Co. Has Lowered Expectations for Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Stock Price

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) had its price objective reduced by investment analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $117.00 to $113.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “underweight” rating on the software maker’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s target price suggests a potential upside of 1.99% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. DA Davidson reduced their target price on Qualys from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Zacks Research lowered shares of Qualys from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Qualys from $140.00 to $134.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Qualys from $139.00 to $135.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Qualys from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Qualys currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $140.43.

Qualys Stock Down 13.3%

Qualys stock traded down $17.01 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $110.80. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,104,993 shares, compared to its average volume of 510,342. Qualys has a 12 month low of $109.72 and a 12 month high of $155.47. The company has a market capitalization of $3.97 billion, a PE ratio of 21.47 and a beta of 0.53. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $137.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $135.30.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The software maker reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $175.28 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $173.18 million. Qualys had a net margin of 28.96% and a return on equity of 37.40%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.60 EPS. Qualys has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.760-1.830 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 7.170-7.450 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Qualys will post 3.85 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Qualys

In related news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 3,414 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.63, for a total value of $463,040.82. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 88,489 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,001,763.07. The trade was a 3.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.76, for a total value of $668,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 247,800 shares in the company, valued at $33,145,728. The trade was a 1.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 37,628 shares of company stock valued at $5,343,650 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in Qualys by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 1,985 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $264,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Qualys by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 5,027 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $665,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Qualys by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,038 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $291,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its stake in shares of Qualys by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 12,868 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,703,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the period. Finally, Arkadios Wealth Advisors lifted its position in Qualys by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 4,006 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $572,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Qualys

Here are the key news stories impacting Qualys this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results beat expectations — EPS $1.87 vs. $1.78 est; revenue $175.3M vs. $173.2M and revenue +10.1% YoY, showing steady growth and margin expansion. Qualys Q4 Earnings Surpass Expectations, Revenues Increase Y/Y
• Positive Sentiment: Management raised forward guidance: FY2026 EPS 7.170–7.450 (vs. consensus ~6.59) and Q1 EPS 1.760–1.830 (vs. ~1.57), which signals confidence in underlying business momentum. Qualys Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Financial Results
• Positive Sentiment: Board authorized a $200M increase to the share repurchase program — a capital return that reduces float and supports EPS. Qualys Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Financial Results
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support: Wedbush reaffirmed an Outperform rating and $155 price target, implying substantial upside versus current levels. Wedbush Reaffirms Outperform, $155 PT
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings call and presentation emphasize strategic initiatives, stronger channel sales and expanding margins — useful for longer-term thesis but less immediately market-moving than headline beats/guidance. Qualys Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Despite the beat and upgraded guidance, the stock is down today on heavy volume and sits below its 50- and 200-day moving averages — suggesting short-term profit-taking, broader sector pressure or a market re-rating. (Trading stats and moving averages from market data released with the earnings updates.)

About Qualys

Qualys, Inc (NASDAQ: QLYS) is a leading provider of cloud-based security and compliance solutions designed to help organizations streamline their IT security programs. Operating on a unified, modular platform, Qualys offers continuous visibility into global IT assets through a combination of lightweight cloud agents and on-premises scanner appliances. The platform supports an array of security and compliance use cases, enabling real-time detection of vulnerabilities, policy violations and misconfigurations across on-premises, cloud and hybrid environments.

The company’s flagship Qualys Cloud Platform delivers a suite of integrated applications, including vulnerability management, detection and response (VMDR), policy compliance, web application scanning, file integrity monitoring, asset inventory and container security.