Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) Given Average Recommendation of "Hold" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Qualys has an average “Hold” recommendation from 17 analysts, with a consensus 12-month price target of $141.80.
• Recent analyst actions were mixed: Scotiabank upgraded the stock to sector outperform with a higher target of $190, while other firms such as William Blair and Wall Street Zen lowered their ratings.
• The company recently beat earnings expectations, reporting $1.95 EPS on revenue of $175.64 million, and it provided FY2026 guidance of $7.44–$7.65 EPS.

Shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the seventeen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $141.80.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on QLYS. Scotiabank upgraded Qualys from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and increased their price target for the company from $100.00 to $190.00 in a report on Monday, July 6th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Qualys from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $145.00 price objective on shares of Qualys in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. William Blair cut shares of Qualys from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Qualys from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price target for the company from $87.00 to $139.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 30th.

Qualys Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ QLYS opened at $133.74 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $124.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $110.40. Qualys has a 12 month low of $74.51 and a 12 month high of $167.86. The company has a market cap of $4.71 billion, a PE ratio of 24.01 and a beta of 0.61.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The software maker reported $1.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.81 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $175.64 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $173.63 million. Qualys had a return on equity of 37.15% and a net margin of 29.41%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.67 EPS. Qualys has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.440-7.650 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.730-1.800 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Qualys will post 5.47 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,000 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.00, for a total value of $155,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 63,571 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,853,505. This trade represents a 1.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 965 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.44, for a total value of $138,419.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 81,215 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,649,479.60. The trade was a 1.17% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 73,846 shares of company stock worth $9,239,073 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.72% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its position in Qualys by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 1,985 shares of the software maker's stock worth $264,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Qualys by 1.8% during the third quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 5,027 shares of the software maker's stock worth $665,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in Qualys by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,038 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $291,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd raised its position in shares of Qualys by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,178 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $156,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Qualys by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,231 shares of the software maker's stock worth $164,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the period. 99.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Qualys

Qualys, Inc NASDAQ: QLYS is a leading provider of cloud-based security and compliance solutions designed to help organizations streamline their IT security programs. Operating on a unified, modular platform, Qualys offers continuous visibility into global IT assets through a combination of lightweight cloud agents and on-premises scanner appliances. The platform supports an array of security and compliance use cases, enabling real-time detection of vulnerabilities, policy violations and misconfigurations across on-premises, cloud and hybrid environments.

The company's flagship Qualys Cloud Platform delivers a suite of integrated applications, including vulnerability management, detection and response (VMDR), policy compliance, web application scanning, file integrity monitoring, asset inventory and container security.

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