Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Shares Gap Down Following Analyst Downgrade

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday after Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on the stock from $235.00 to $215.00. The stock had previously closed at $202.46, but opened at $182.50. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a hold rating on the stock. Qualys shares last traded at $180.85, with a volume of 244,591 shares.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on QLYS. Weiss Ratings upgraded Qualys from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Qualys from $170.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Northland Securities set a $208.00 price objective on shares of Qualys in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Qualys from $135.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Qualys from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $195.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 2,659 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.66, for a total transaction of $557,485.94. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 68,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,300,489.28. This trade represents a 3.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 881 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.52, for a total value of $166,967.12. Following the sale, the insider owned 57,807 shares in the company, valued at $10,955,582.64. This trade represents a 1.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 11,672 shares of company stock valued at $2,192,747 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qualys

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Qualys in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $792,316,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of Qualys in the second quarter worth about $197,624,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of Qualys by 127.0% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 832,796 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $73,161,000 after purchasing an additional 465,952 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Qualys by 6.4% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 763,099 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $67,041,000 after purchasing an additional 45,718 shares during the period. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Qualys by 27.2% during the 3rd quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 663,092 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $124,131,000 after buying an additional 141,603 shares in the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Qualys Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $6.32 billion, a PE ratio of 30.40 and a beta of 0.54. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $190.96 and its 200 day moving average is $137.55.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 9th. The software maker reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.96 by $0.16. Qualys had a net margin of 29.59% and a return on equity of 37.09%. The business had revenue of $188.05 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $186.63 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.86 EPS. Qualys’s revenue was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Qualys, Inc. will post 5.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Qualys

Qualys, Inc. provides cloud-based security and compliance software to help organizations identify and manage cybersecurity risks. Its platform brings together information about an organization’s IT assets and security posture to support vulnerability management, threat detection, and compliance activities. Qualys offers products and services for vulnerability assessment and remediation, cloud security, endpoint protection, web application security, and policy compliance. Its solutions are designed to help customers monitor systems across cloud environments, on-premises infrastructure, and other connected assets.