Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) Receives Average Recommendation of "Reduce" from Brokerages

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) has been given an average recommendation of "Reduce" by the eighteen research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $140.53.

Several research firms recently commented on QLYS. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Qualys from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Qualys from $162.00 to $135.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their target price on Qualys from $170.00 to $163.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Qualys from $145.00 to $130.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Qualys from $120.00 to $90.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.17, for a total transaction of $995,190.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 246,144 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $34,994,292.48. This trade represents a 2.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 4,487 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total transaction of $628,180.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 112,757 shares in the company, valued at $15,785,980. This trade represents a 3.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 26,138 shares of company stock valued at $3,519,970. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Qualys by 1,386.2% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 355,699 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $49,876,000 after buying an additional 331,766 shares during the period. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC bought a new position in Qualys in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,086,000. Penserra Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Qualys by 53.3% in the first quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 499,084 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $62,849,000 after acquiring an additional 173,512 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Qualys by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,312,662 shares of the software maker's stock worth $604,721,000 after purchasing an additional 131,339 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its holdings in shares of Qualys by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,049,623 shares of the software maker's stock worth $147,178,000 after buying an additional 123,530 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.31% of the company's stock.

Qualys Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of Qualys stock traded up $1.69 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $129.69. The company had a trading volume of 78,913 shares, compared to its average volume of 341,219. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $125.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $135.99. The company has a market capitalization of $4.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.89 and a beta of 0.71. Qualys has a 1-year low of $112.61 and a 1-year high of $171.00.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.16). Qualys had a net margin of 28.59% and a return on equity of 38.52%. Sell-side analysts expect that Qualys will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current 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.