Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Sets New 1-Year Low – Here’s Why

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) shares hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $104.56 and last traded at $104.79, with a volume of 895994 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $110.28.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

QLYS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Berenberg Bank began coverage on shares of Qualys in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $165.00 price objective for the company. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $150.00 price target on shares of Qualys in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on Qualys from $140.00 to $134.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Qualys in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Northland Securities set a $162.00 price target on Qualys in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Qualys has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $140.46.

Qualys Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $3.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.26 and a beta of 0.53. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $134.08 and its 200 day moving average is $134.27.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The software maker reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.09. Qualys had a net margin of 29.64% and a return on equity of 37.65%. The business had revenue of $175.28 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $173.18 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.60 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. Qualys has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.760-1.830 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 7.170-7.450 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,101 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.34, for a total value of $145,706.34. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 68,598 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,078,259.32. This represents a 1.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 5,000 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.76, for a total value of $668,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 247,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,145,728. This represents a 1.98% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 42,227 shares of company stock valued at $5,875,962. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qualys

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in QLYS. RWA Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Qualys in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $80,820,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Qualys in the fourth quarter worth $78,591,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new position in shares of Qualys during the third quarter valued at $45,854,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Qualys by 46.9% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,012,100 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $144,133,000 after buying an additional 323,324 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Qualys in the 4th quarter worth about $29,158,000. Institutional investors own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

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.