Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday.

Several other brokerages have also commented on QLYS. Wedbush lowered their price objective on shares of Qualys from $230.00 to $210.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 8th. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Qualys in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. They issued a market perform rating and a $170.00 price objective for the company. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Qualys from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Qualys from $212.00 to $180.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Qualys from $146.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $153.23.

Qualys Trading Down 0.4 %

Qualys stock opened at $166.15 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $167.40 and a 200-day moving average of $174.92. The firm has a market cap of $6.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.13 and a beta of 0.51. Qualys has a 1-year low of $107.00 and a 1-year high of $206.35.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The software maker reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.26. Qualys had a net margin of 27.34% and a return on equity of 49.06%. The company had revenue of $144.57 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $144.69 million. Research analysts forecast that Qualys will post 3.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Qualys

In related news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.78, for a total transaction of $197,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 63,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,510,573.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.78, for a total transaction of $197,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 63,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,510,573.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 723 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.76, for a total transaction of $119,121.48. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 100,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,523,615.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 15,320 shares of company stock valued at $2,711,608 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qualys

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in QLYS. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in Qualys by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 8,057 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,155,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can grew its position in Qualys by 70.1% in the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 5,721 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $822,000 after purchasing an additional 2,358 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Qualys in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,224,000. Rhumbline Advisers grew its position in Qualys by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 91,561 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $13,039,000 after purchasing an additional 1,904 shares during the period. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its position in Qualys by 10.5% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 12,237 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,743,000 after purchasing an additional 1,167 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

About Qualys

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.