Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on QLYS. TD Cowen upped their target price on Qualys from $145.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $190.00 price target on Qualys in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Qualys from $100.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Qualys from $145.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Qualys from $139.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Qualys currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $173.87.

Qualys Price Performance

QLYS opened at $150.28 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $166.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $122.73. Qualys has a 1-year low of $74.51 and a 1-year high of $201.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.00 and a beta of 0.62.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. Qualys had a return on equity of 37.52% and a net margin of 29.38%.The business had revenue of $182.18 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $178.57 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.68 earnings per share. The business’s 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. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Qualys will post 5.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,627 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 75,743 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,591,708.72. This trade represents a 2.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Sumedh Thakar sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.00, for a total transaction of $4,050,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 196,686 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,552,610. This trade represents a 13.23% 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. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 57,205 shares of company stock valued at $7,592,800. 0.72% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qualys

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its position in shares of Qualys by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 1,985 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $264,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Qualys by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 5,027 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $665,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in shares of Qualys by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,038 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $291,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd grew its stake in shares of Qualys by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,178 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $156,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Qualys by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,231 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $164,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is currently 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.