Wall Street Zen Upgrades Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) to "Buy"

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Qualys to “Buy” from “Hold,” but the broader analyst consensus remains “Hold,” with an average price target of $180.53.
• Qualys reported quarterly EPS of $1.98, beating estimates of $1.78, while revenue rose 11.1% year over year to $182.18 million.
• QLYS opened at $181.05, with a $6.26 billion market capitalization; institutional investors own 99.31% of the company, while insiders sold $1.94 million of shares over the past three months.

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

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Qualys from $139.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Qualys from $150.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Qualys from $160.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Qualys from $135.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Qualys from $100.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $180.53.

Qualys Stock Performance

QLYS opened at $181.05 on Friday. The firm's fifty day moving average is $182.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $138.60. The firm has a market cap of $6.26 billion, a PE ratio of 32.99 and a beta of 0.60. Qualys has a twelve month low of $74.51 and a twelve month high of $206.25.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The software maker reported $1.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 analysts' expectations of $178.57 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.68 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue 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 analysts forecast that Qualys will post 5.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Qualys

In other Qualys news, insider Bruce Posey sold 882 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.17, for a total transaction of $139,505.94. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 62,689 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,915,519.13. The trade was a 1.39% decrease in their position. 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, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 3,200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.36, for a total transaction of $609,152.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 177,138 shares in the company, valued at $33,719,989.68. This trade represents a 1.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 11,141 shares of company stock worth $1,935,891 in the last three months. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Qualys

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sei Investments Co. increased its position in shares of Qualys by 28.8% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 47,295 shares of the software maker's stock worth $4,155,000 after purchasing an additional 10,569 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Qualys by 306.4% in the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 36,253 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $3,185,000 after buying an additional 27,333 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its holdings in shares of Qualys by 63.5% in the 2nd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 17,251 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $2,372,000 after buying an additional 6,700 shares during the last quarter. Park State Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Qualys in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $5,942,000. Finally, Chase Investment Counsel Corp bought a new position in shares of Qualys in the second quarter valued at $2,749,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.31% of the company's stock.

About Qualys

Qualys, Inc provides cloud-based information technology, security and compliance solutions for organizations worldwide. Its platform is designed to help businesses identify, assess and manage security vulnerabilities across their networks, endpoints, cloud environments and web applications.

The company's offerings include vulnerability management, asset inventory, security and compliance assessment, web application security, endpoint detection and response, and cloud security capabilities.

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