Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold”

StockNews.com cut shares of Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Sunday morning.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on QLYS. Wedbush dropped their price objective on Qualys from $230.00 to $210.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Stephens reaffirmed an equal weight rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of Qualys in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Qualys from $212.00 to $180.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Qualys in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. They set a market perform rating and a $170.00 price target for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Qualys from $146.00 to $152.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $153.23.

Qualys Stock Up 1.8 %

NASDAQ QLYS opened at $171.54 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $6.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.68 and a beta of 0.51. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $166.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $175.53. Qualys has a twelve month low of $107.00 and a twelve month high of $206.35.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The software maker reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $144.57 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $144.69 million. Qualys had a return on equity of 49.06% and a net margin of 27.34%. Research analysts expect that Qualys will post 3.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Qualys

In other news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,430 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.91, for a total value of $235,821.30. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 63,057 shares in the company, valued at $10,398,729.87. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Qualys news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,430 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.91, for a total transaction of $235,821.30. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 63,057 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,398,729.87. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 723 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.76, for a total value of $119,121.48. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 100,289 shares in the company, valued at $16,523,615.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 13,349 shares of company stock worth $2,214,032. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of QLYS. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in Qualys by 121.9% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 360,294 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $70,719,000 after purchasing an additional 197,911 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Qualys by 172.3% in the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 193,056 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $37,893,000 after acquiring an additional 122,168 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Qualys by 201,932.8% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 117,179 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $23,000,000 after acquiring an additional 117,121 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in shares of Qualys in the 4th quarter valued at $18,844,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Qualys by 46.9% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 250,661 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $38,238,000 after acquiring an additional 80,079 shares during the period. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Qualys Company Profile

Qualys, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides cloud-based platform delivering information technology (IT), security, and compliance solutions in the United States and internationally. It offers Qualys Cloud Apps, which include Cybersecurity Asset Management and External Attack Surface Management; Vulnerability Management, Detection and Response; Web Application Scanning; Patch Management; Custom Assessment and Remediation; Multi-Vector Endpoint Detection and Response; Context Extended Detection and Response; Policy Compliance; File Integrity Monitoring; and Qualys TotalCloud, as well as Cloud Workload Protection, Cloud Detection and Response, Cloud Security Posture Management, Infrastructure as Code, and Container Security.