Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Stock Rating Upgraded by Zacks Research

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) was upgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Qualys from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Qualys from $150.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings raised Qualys from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Qualys from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $170.53.

Qualys Price Performance

NASDAQ:QLYS opened at $187.15 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $6.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.38 and a beta of 0.60. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $140.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $113.18. Qualys has a one year low of $74.51 and a one year high of $201.54.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The software maker reported $1.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $178.57 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.68 EPS. Qualys’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 research analysts expect that Qualys will post 5.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Qualys

In other Qualys news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,627 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 owned 75,743 shares in the company, valued at $11,591,708.72. This trade represents a 2.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 882 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction on Monday, July 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.17, for a total value of $139,505.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 62,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,915,519.13. This represents a 1.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 76,855 shares of company stock valued at $9,706,670 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of QLYS. Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in Qualys by 28.8% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 47,295 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $4,155,000 after buying an additional 10,569 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Qualys by 306.4% in the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 36,253 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $3,185,000 after acquiring an additional 27,333 shares during the last quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Qualys in the 1st quarter valued at $2,064,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Qualys by 118.6% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 37,714 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $3,313,000 after acquiring an additional 20,462 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Comerica Bank grew its position in Qualys by 100.6% during the 4th quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 22,710 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $3,018,000 after acquiring an additional 11,391 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.