Zacks Research Upgrades Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) to “Strong-Buy”

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Qualys from $150.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Northland Securities set a $208.00 price target on Qualys in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Qualys from $145.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Wedbush decreased their price target on Qualys from $155.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $160.00 price target on Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $170.53.

Qualys Stock Performance

NASDAQ:QLYS opened at $187.15 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $140.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $113.18. Qualys has a one year low of $74.51 and a one year high of $201.54. The firm has a market cap of $6.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.38 and a beta of 0.60.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The software maker reported $1.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $182.18 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $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. On average, research analysts predict that Qualys will post 5.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 2,384 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.18, for a total value of $238,829.12. Following the sale, the insider owned 66,301 shares in the company, valued at $6,642,034.18. This represents a 3.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,627 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.17, for a total transaction of $162,976.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 83,211 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,335,245.87. This trade represents a 1.92% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 76,855 shares of company stock valued at $9,706,670. Company insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Qualys

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in shares of Qualys by 28.8% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 47,295 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $4,155,000 after purchasing an additional 10,569 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in Qualys by 306.4% during the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 36,253 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $3,185,000 after buying an additional 27,333 shares in the last quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. acquired a new stake in Qualys during the first quarter valued at $2,064,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its position in Qualys by 118.6% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 37,714 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $3,313,000 after buying an additional 20,462 shares during the period. Finally, Comerica Bank increased its holdings in Qualys by 100.6% in the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 22,710 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $3,018,000 after buying an additional 11,391 shares in the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.