Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Stock Price Up 7.8% – Should You Buy?

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) rose 7.8% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $162.92 and last traded at $162.0430. Approximately 108,199 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 752,195 shares. The stock had previously closed at $150.28.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

QLYS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Qualys from $135.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Qualys from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, August 24th. Zacks Research raised Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Qualys from $145.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Qualys from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Qualys currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $173.87.

Qualys Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $6.41 billion, a PE ratio of 32.07 and a beta of 0.62. The company’s fifty day moving average is $167.20 and its 200-day moving average is $123.99.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The software maker reported $1.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $178.57 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.68 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter 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. Equities research analysts forecast that Qualys, Inc. will post 5.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 3,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.05, for a total transaction of $544,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 180,338 shares in the company, valued at $30,666,476.90. The trade was a 1.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, 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 transaction, the chief financial officer 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. 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 60,405 shares of company stock valued at $8,136,960. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qualys

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Qualys during 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 $197,624,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings 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 worth $73,161,000 after buying an additional 465,952 shares during the last quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Qualys by 402.2% during the fourth quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 363,593 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $48,322,000 after buying an additional 291,192 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Qualys during the second quarter worth $39,044,000. 99.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.