Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Upgraded to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Wedbush lowered shares of Qualys from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $175.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, September 10th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Qualys from $100.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $190.00 target price on shares of Qualys in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Qualys from $139.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on Qualys from $160.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Qualys currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $180.53.

Qualys Trading Down 6.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:QLYS opened at $181.05 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.32 and a beta of 0.60. Qualys has a 1-year low of $74.51 and a 1-year high of $206.25. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $182.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $138.60.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The software maker reported $1.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.20. Qualys had a net margin of 29.38% and a return on equity of 37.52%. The company had revenue of $182.18 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $178.57 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.68 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. 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, equities analysts predict that Qualys will post 5.84 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Wendy Pfeiffer sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.19, for a total value of $79,095.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 12,210 shares in the company, valued at $1,931,499.90. This trade represents a 3.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,627 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.04, for a total transaction of $248,996.08. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 75,743 shares in the company, 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 90 days, insiders have sold 11,141 shares of company stock valued at $1,935,891. Insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qualys

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its position in shares of Qualys by 4.9% during the third quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 2,114 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $396,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in Qualys by 25.8% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 527 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $99,000 after buying an additional 108 shares during the period. NorthRock Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Qualys by 0.8% during the second quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 13,501 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,856,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its holdings in Qualys by 40.5% during the second quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 472 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in Qualys by 2.2% during the first quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 7,296 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $641,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Qualys

Qualys, Inc provides cloud-based information technology, security and compliance solutions for organizations worldwide. Its platform is designed to help businesses identify, assess and manage security vulnerabilities across their networks, endpoints, cloud environments and web applications.

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