Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Stock Price Down 8.8% – Here’s What Happened

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)’s stock price dropped 8.8% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $94.14 and last traded at $94.16. Approximately 855,496 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 42% from the average daily volume of 602,274 shares. The stock had previously closed at $103.20.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

QLYS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Zacks Research cut shares of Qualys from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Berenberg Bank initiated coverage on Qualys in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $165.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on Qualys from $140.00 to $134.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $117.00 price target on shares of Qualys in a report on Thursday, December 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Qualys has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $140.46.

Qualys Price Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $129.50 and a 200 day moving average of $133.21. The firm has a market cap of $3.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.03 and a beta of 0.53.

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

Insider Activity at Qualys

In other Qualys news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 7,506 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.59, for a total value of $1,100,304.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 108,074 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,842,567.66. The trade was a 6.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.12, for a total value of $1,250,520.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 252,800 shares in the company, valued at $37,191,936. This trade represents a 3.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 42,227 shares of company stock valued at $5,875,962. Insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Qualys

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Strive Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Qualys in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in Qualys by 204.3% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 213 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Qualys in the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in Qualys by 451.0% in the 3rd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 270 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP increased its position in shares of Qualys by 86.8% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 284 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Qualys Company Profile

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.