Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Hits New 1-Year Low – Here’s Why

Shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) reached a new 52-week low during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $101.61 and last traded at $104.39, with a volume of 632285 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $103.91.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. DA Davidson lowered their target price on Qualys from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 6th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Qualys from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Truist Financial restated a “hold” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective (down previously from $130.00) on shares of Qualys in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Scotiabank cut their target price on Qualys from $139.00 to $135.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Qualys presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $140.46.

Qualys Trading Up 0.5%

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $130.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $133.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.19 and a beta of 0.53.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The software maker reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.09. Qualys had a net margin of 29.64% and a return on equity of 37.65%. The firm had revenue of $175.28 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $173.18 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.60 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. 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 research analysts predict that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Qualys

In other news, 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 247,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,145,728. This trade represents a 1.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,101 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.34, for a total value of $145,706.34. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 68,598 shares in the company, valued at $9,078,259.32. The trade was a 1.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 42,227 shares of company stock valued at $5,875,962 over the last ninety days. 0.88% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Qualys

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Qualys by 2.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,401,798 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $582,490,000 after acquiring an additional 123,962 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in Qualys by 24.1% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,372,587 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $182,417,000 after buying an additional 266,924 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Qualys by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,256,002 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $168,380,000 after purchasing an additional 48,877 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in Qualys by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,156,412 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $153,687,000 after buying an additional 75,397 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp increased its holdings in shares of Qualys by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,146,289 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $151,688,000 after buying an additional 8,425 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Qualys Company Profile

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.