Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Upgraded at Wedbush

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) was upgraded by stock analysts at Wedbush to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Zacks reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on QLYS. Northland Securities set a $208.00 price target on Qualys in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $190.00 price objective on Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Qualys from $139.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Wall Street Zen cut Qualys from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Qualys from $135.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Qualys currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $173.87.

Qualys Stock Down 7.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:QLYS opened at $150.28 on Thursday. Qualys has a fifty-two week low of $74.51 and a fifty-two week high of $201.54. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $166.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $122.47. The company has a market cap of $5.20 billion, a PE ratio of 26.00 and a beta of 0.62.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The software maker reported $1.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.20. Qualys had a net margin of 29.38% and a return on equity of 37.52%. The firm had revenue of $182.18 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $178.57 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.68 earnings per share. Qualys’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. 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, research analysts forecast that Qualys will post 5.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,627 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 75,743 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,591,708.72. The trade was a 2.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.00, for a total value of $155,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 63,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,853,505. This trade represents a 1.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 ninety days, insiders have sold 57,205 shares of company stock valued at $7,592,800. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Qualys in the second quarter valued at $792,316,000. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Qualys by 13,255.9% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 5,651,801 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $777,066,000 after acquiring an additional 5,609,484 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in shares of Qualys in the 2nd quarter worth $197,624,000. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Qualys by 24.1% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,372,587 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $182,417,000 after acquiring an additional 266,924 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Qualys by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,256,002 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $168,380,000 after purchasing an additional 48,877 shares during the period. 99.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Qualys

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

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