Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) Receives Average Rating of "Hold" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Qualys has a consensus "Hold" rating from 17 brokerages, with an average 12-month price target of about $122.14. Recent analyst actions were mixed, including target cuts from Piper Sandler and DA Davidson and a neutral-sector perform view from several firms.
• The company reported stronger-than-expected Q1 earnings, posting $1.95 EPS versus $1.81 expected and revenue of $175.64 million, up 9.8% year over year. Qualys also guided FY2026 EPS to 7.44-7.65 and Q2 2026 EPS to 1.73-1.80.
• Insiders have been selling shares recently, including CEO Sumedh S. Thakar, who sold 13,200 shares in a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 transaction. Institutional ownership remains high, with 99.31% of shares held by institutions and hedge funds.

Shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the seventeen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $122.1429.

QLYS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Qualys from $135.00 to $100.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. DA Davidson dropped their price target on Qualys from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley set a $96.00 price target on Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Qualys from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a "hold" rating on shares of Qualys in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Qualys news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 13,200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.73, for a total transaction of $1,514,436.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 249,886 shares in the company, valued at $28,669,420.78. This represents a 5.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 865 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.43, for a total value of $86,871.95. Following the sale, the insider owned 65,436 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,571,737.48. This represents a 1.30% 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 19,172 shares of company stock worth $2,124,751 over the last three months. 0.88% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qualys

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in QLYS. Strive Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Qualys in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in shares of Qualys by 204.3% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 213 shares of the software maker's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in shares of Qualys by 86.8% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 284 shares of the software maker's stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 132 shares during the period. Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Qualys by 206.2% in the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 297 shares of the software maker's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Employees Retirement System of Texas purchased a new stake in shares of Qualys in the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Qualys Stock Down 1.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:QLYS opened at $111.61 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.04 and a beta of 0.66. Qualys has a 52 week low of $74.51 and a 52 week high of $155.47. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $91.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $112.89.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The software maker reported $1.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.81 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $175.64 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $173.63 million. Qualys had a return on equity of 37.15% and a net margin of 29.41%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.67 earnings per share. Qualys has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.440-7.650 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.730-1.800 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Qualys will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Qualys Company Profile

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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