Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Cut to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Sunday.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Qualys in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. They issued a market perform rating and a $170.00 price target on the stock. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Qualys from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Qualys from $146.00 to $152.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Wedbush decreased their price objective on Qualys from $230.00 to $210.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Qualys from $212.00 to $180.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Qualys has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $153.23.

Qualys Price Performance

Qualys stock opened at $171.54 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $166.38 and its 200 day moving average is $175.53. The firm has a market cap of $6.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.68 and a beta of 0.51. Qualys has a one year low of $107.00 and a one year high of $206.35.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The software maker reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.26. Qualys had a return on equity of 49.06% and a net margin of 27.34%. The firm had revenue of $144.57 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $144.69 million. Equities analysts anticipate that Qualys will post 3.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,130 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.49, for a total transaction of $191,523.70. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 96,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,395,445.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Qualys news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 4,034 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.96, for a total value of $661,414.64. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 193,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,743,967.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.49, for a total value of $191,523.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 96,734 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,395,445.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 13,349 shares of company stock valued at $2,214,032 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Qualys

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Qualys by 1,666.7% during the 1st quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 159 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its position in shares of Qualys by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 10,600 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,769,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. bought a new position in shares of Qualys during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,111,000. Norden Group LLC increased its position in shares of Qualys by 1,806.6% during the 1st quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 81,871 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $13,662,000 after purchasing an additional 77,577 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Michigan Retirement System increased its position in shares of Qualys by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 9,076 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,515,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Qualys Company Profile

Qualys, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides cloud-based platform delivering information technology (IT), security, and compliance solutions in the United States and internationally. It offers Qualys Cloud Apps, which include Cybersecurity Asset Management and External Attack Surface Management; Vulnerability Management, Detection and Response; Web Application Scanning; Patch Management; Custom Assessment and Remediation; Multi-Vector Endpoint Detection and Response; Context Extended Detection and Response; Policy Compliance; File Integrity Monitoring; and Qualys TotalCloud, as well as Cloud Workload Protection, Cloud Detection and Response, Cloud Security Posture Management, Infrastructure as Code, and Container Security.