Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Given Outperform Rating at Wedbush

Wedbush reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) in a report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $155.00 price target on the software maker’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and set a $117.00 price objective on shares of Qualys in a report on Thursday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Qualys from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Qualys from $139.00 to $135.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Zacks Research lowered Qualys from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group set a $150.00 target price on Qualys in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Qualys has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $140.46.

Qualys Stock Down 13.3%

Shares of Qualys stock opened at $110.80 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $137.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $135.11. The stock has a market cap of $3.97 billion, a PE ratio of 20.37 and a beta of 0.53. Qualys has a 12 month low of $109.72 and a 12 month high of $155.47.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The software maker reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $175.28 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $173.18 million. Qualys had a return on equity of 38.56% and a net margin of 29.64%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.60 earnings per share. Qualys has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.760-1.830 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 7.170-7.450 EPS. Analysts expect that Qualys will post 3.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.76, for a total transaction of $668,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 247,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,145,728. This represents a 1.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 6,799 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.46, for a total value of $873,399.54. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 88,489 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,367,296.94. The trade was a 7.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 44,427 shares of company stock worth $6,217,050 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Qualys

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its holdings in Qualys by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 1,985 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $264,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its stake in shares of Qualys by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 12,868 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,703,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Qualys by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,038 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $291,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arkadios Wealth Advisors increased its position in shares of Qualys by 2.4% in the second quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 4,006 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $572,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Trending Headlines about Qualys

Here are the key news stories impacting Qualys this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results beat expectations — EPS $1.87 vs. $1.78 est; revenue $175.3M vs. $173.2M and revenue +10.1% YoY, showing steady growth and margin expansion. Qualys Q4 Earnings Surpass Expectations, Revenues Increase Y/Y
• Positive Sentiment: Management raised forward guidance: FY2026 EPS 7.170–7.450 (vs. consensus ~6.59) and Q1 EPS 1.760–1.830 (vs. ~1.57), which signals confidence in underlying business momentum. Qualys Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Financial Results
• Positive Sentiment: Board authorized a $200M increase to the share repurchase program — a capital return that reduces float and supports EPS. Qualys Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Financial Results
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support: Wedbush reaffirmed an Outperform rating and $155 price target, implying substantial upside versus current levels. Wedbush Reaffirms Outperform, $155 PT
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings call and presentation emphasize strategic initiatives, stronger channel sales and expanding margins — useful for longer-term thesis but less immediately market-moving than headline beats/guidance. Qualys Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Despite the beat and upgraded guidance, the stock is down today on heavy volume and sits below its 50- and 200-day moving averages — suggesting short-term profit-taking, broader sector pressure or a market re-rating. (Trading stats and moving averages from market data released with the earnings updates.)

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.