Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Sets New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday. The stock traded as high as $231.09 and last traded at $229.6340, with a volume of 76,712 shares. The stock had previously closed at $227.90.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

QLYS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley set a $200.00 target price on shares of Qualys in a research report on Tuesday, October 13th. Yorkville Ives began coverage on shares of Qualys in a research report on Monday, October 5th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $230.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Qualys from $145.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Robert W. Baird set a $160.00 price target on Qualys in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on Qualys from $160.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $183.62.

Qualys Trading Up 3.0%

The stock has a market cap of $7.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.27 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $187.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $134.51.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The software maker reported $1.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $182.18 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $178.57 million. Qualys had a net margin of 29.38% and a return on equity of 37.52%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.68 earnings per share. Qualys has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.740-7.880 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.910-1.980 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Qualys, Inc. will post 5.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 881 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.52, for a total value of $166,967.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 57,807 shares in the company, valued at $10,955,582.64. This represents a 1.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,627 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.04, for a total value of $248,996.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 75,743 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,591,708.72. The trade was a 2.10% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 10,640 shares of company stock worth $1,884,257. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Root Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in Qualys by 206.2% in the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 297 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Kilter Group LLC purchased a new stake in Qualys in the second quarter worth $31,000. Continuum Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Qualys during the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Qualys during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $51,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP bought a new position in Qualys in the second quarter worth $64,000. 99.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Qualys

Qualys, Inc is a cloud-based cybersecurity company that helps organizations identify, assess and manage security risks across information technology environments. Its platform is designed to provide visibility into assets, vulnerabilities, configurations and compliance requirements across on-premises infrastructure, endpoints, networks, applications and cloud environments.

The company’s offerings include vulnerability management, detection and response, policy compliance, asset inventory, web application security, endpoint security and cloud security capabilities.