Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Upgraded 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 morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on QLYS. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Qualys from $100.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Zacks Research raised shares of Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Qualys from $139.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Wedbush cut shares of Qualys from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $175.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, September 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $200.00 price target on shares of Qualys in a research report on Tuesday, October 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $183.62.

Qualys Stock Up 5.0%

Qualys stock opened at $190.08 on Friday. Qualys has a twelve month low of $74.51 and a twelve month high of $206.25. The company has a market capitalization of $6.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.00 and a beta of 0.60. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $182.94 and its 200 day moving average is $139.68.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The software maker reported $1.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $182.18 million during 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $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. As a group, equities analysts expect that Qualys will post 5.84 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Qualys

In other news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,627 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.04, for a total transaction of $248,996.08. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 75,743 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,591,708.72. This trade represents a 2.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 866 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.49, for a total transaction of $155,438.34. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 58,688 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,533,909.12. The trade was a 1.45% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 9,759 shares of company stock worth $1,717,290. Company insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qualys

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. CWA Asset Management Group LLC bought a new position in Qualys in the 3rd quarter worth $905,000. Abel Hall LLC lifted its position in Qualys by 8.9% during the third quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 2,070 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $388,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. Burns Matteson Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Qualys during the third quarter valued at $370,000. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Qualys during the third quarter valued at about $213,000. Finally, ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. grew its holdings in Qualys by 4.9% during the third quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 2,114 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $396,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the period. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Qualys Company Profile

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

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