Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Hits New 1-Year Low – Should You Sell?

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)’s share price hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $83.38 and last traded at $83.94, with a volume of 81405 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $91.11.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on QLYS shares. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $120.00 price objective (down from $130.00) on shares of Qualys in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $117.00 price target on shares of Qualys in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Zacks Research cut shares of Qualys from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Qualys from $117.00 to $113.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their price objective on Qualys from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Qualys presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $140.46.

Qualys Trading Down 4.9%

The stock has a market capitalization of $3.09 billion, a PE ratio of 15.96 and a beta of 0.62. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $108.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $126.69.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The software maker reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $175.28 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $173.18 million. Qualys had a return on equity of 37.65% and a net margin of 29.64%.Qualys’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $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, equities analysts anticipate that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Qualys

In other news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,101 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.34, for a total value of $145,706.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 68,598 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,078,259.32. This represents a 1.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 6,799 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.46, for a total transaction of $873,399.54. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 88,489 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,367,296.94. This represents a 7.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,232 shares of company stock worth $2,789,020. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of QLYS. RWA Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Qualys during the third quarter valued at $80,820,000. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in shares of Qualys by 26.3% in the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 87,217 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $11,541,000 after buying an additional 18,164 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Qualys by 748.6% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 31,346 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $4,148,000 after acquiring an additional 27,652 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Qualys in the 2nd quarter worth about $414,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Qualys by 62.4% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 125,636 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $16,769,000 after acquiring an additional 48,267 shares during the period. 99.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Qualys

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.