Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Shares Down 9.4% on Analyst Downgrade

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report)'s share price traded down 9.4% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Truist Financial lowered their price target on the stock from $175.00 to $165.00. Truist Financial currently has a hold rating on the stock. Qualys traded as low as $150.05 and last traded at $150.32. 446,886 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 2% from the average session volume of 455,610 shares. The stock had previously closed at $165.98.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on QLYS. StockNews.com cut shares of Qualys from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, April 21st. TD Cowen began coverage on Qualys in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $170.00 target price on the stock. Wedbush dropped their price target on Qualys from $230.00 to $210.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Stephens restated an "equal weight" rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of Qualys in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Qualys from $212.00 to $180.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Qualys currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $157.79.

Insider Buying and Selling at Qualys

In other news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 928 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.97, for a total transaction of $155,876.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 93,196 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,654,132.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 928 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.97, for a total transaction of $155,876.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 93,196 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,654,132.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 4,120 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.62, for a total transaction of $690,594.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 194,481 shares in the company, valued at $32,598,905.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,590 shares of company stock worth $2,419,842 in the last ninety days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qualys

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in Qualys by 24.9% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 291 shares of the software maker's stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Wallace Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in Qualys by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Wallace Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,646 shares of the software maker's stock worth $275,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Intrust Bank NA boosted its holdings in Qualys by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Intrust Bank NA now owns 4,984 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $978,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. KLR Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Qualys by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. KLR Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,384 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $364,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in Qualys by 33.2% during the fourth quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 333 shares of the software maker's stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.31% of the company's stock.

Qualys Stock Down 9.8 %

The company's 50-day moving average price is $166.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $175.87. The firm has a market cap of $5.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.07 and a beta of 0.51.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The software maker reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $144.57 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $144.69 million. Qualys had a net margin of 27.34% and a return on equity of 49.06%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.