Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Trading Down 3.9% – What’s Next?

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)’s stock price dropped 3.9% on Friday . The company traded as low as $154.85 and last traded at $155.3260. 73,788 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 90% from the average session volume of 749,639 shares. The stock had previously closed at $161.57.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded Qualys from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, August 24th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Qualys from $145.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Qualys from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Northland Securities set a $208.00 price target on shares of Qualys in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $173.87.

Qualys Trading Down 5.6%

The business’s fifty day moving average price is $166.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $122.28. The company has a market capitalization of $5.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.37 and a beta of 0.62.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The software maker reported $1.98 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $178.57 million. Qualys had a return on equity of 37.52% and a net margin of 29.38%.The business’s revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business 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. Equities research analysts anticipate that Qualys, Inc. will post 5.85 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Qualys

In other Qualys news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,627 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.04, for a total transaction of $248,996.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 75,743 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,591,708.72. The trade was a 2.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Sumedh Thakar sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.00, for a total value of $4,050,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 196,686 shares in the company, valued at $26,552,610. This represents a 13.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 57,205 shares of company stock worth $7,592,800. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qualys

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Qualys in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $792,316,000. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in Qualys by 13,255.9% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 5,651,801 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $777,066,000 after acquiring an additional 5,609,484 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in Qualys in the second quarter valued at $197,624,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Qualys in the 4th quarter valued at about $78,591,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Qualys by 127.0% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 832,796 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $73,161,000 after purchasing an additional 465,952 shares during the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Qualys

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

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