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

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen downgraded Qualys from “Buy” to “Hold,” aligning with the broader analyst consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $173.87.
• Qualys shares opened at $150.28 after falling 7%, with a market capitalization of approximately $5.2 billion and a 52-week range of $74.51 to $201.54.
• The company exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $1.98 in earnings per share versus the $1.78 consensus and revenue of $182.18 million, up 11.1% year over year; insiders have sold $7.6 million of stock over the past 90 days.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report issued on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on QLYS. Weiss Ratings raised Qualys from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Monday, August 24th. Scotiabank increased their price target on Qualys from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Wedbush downgraded Qualys from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $175.00 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Qualys from $150.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $160.00 price objective on Qualys in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $173.87.

Qualys Stock Down 7.0%

QLYS opened at $150.28 on Friday. The firm's 50 day moving average is $166.35 and its 200-day moving average is $122.47. Qualys has a 52-week low of $74.51 and a 52-week high of $201.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.00 and a beta of 0.62.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The software maker reported $1.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.20. Qualys had a net margin of 29.38% and a return on equity of 37.52%. The business had revenue of $182.18 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $178.57 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.68 earnings per share. The business's quarterly 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. Equities analysts expect that Qualys will post 5.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Qualys

In other Qualys news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 30,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.00, for a total transaction of $4,050,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 196,686 shares in the company, valued at $26,552,610. This represents a 13.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Wendy Pfeiffer sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.19, for a total value of $79,095.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 12,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,931,499.90. This represents a 3.93% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 57,205 shares of company stock valued at $7,592,800 over the last ninety days. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qualys

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Qualys by 3,948.0% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 2,024 shares of the software maker's stock worth $255,000 after purchasing an additional 1,974 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Qualys during the second quarter valued at $292,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its holdings in shares of Qualys by 3,218.8% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 531 shares of the software maker's stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 515 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Qualys by 482.0% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 646 shares of the software maker's stock worth $92,000 after purchasing an additional 535 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi lifted its position in shares of Qualys by 47.1% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 21,365 shares of the software maker's stock worth $3,076,000 after buying an additional 6,844 shares during the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by 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.

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