Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" from Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts maintain a “Hold” consensus on Qualys, with 11 hold, three buy, two strong-buy and one sell rating among 17 brokerages. The average 12-month price target is $170.53, below the stock’s reported opening price of $183.31.
• Qualys exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $1.98 EPS versus the $1.78 consensus and revenue of $182.18 million, up 11.1% year over year. The company issued fiscal 2026 EPS guidance of $7.74 to $7.88.
• Insiders sold 72,844 shares worth approximately $9.3 million over the past 90 days, while institutional investors own 99.31% of Qualys’ outstanding stock.

Shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) have received an average rating of "Hold" from the seventeen brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $170.5333.

QLYS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen raised their target price on Qualys from $145.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Qualys from $145.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Qualys from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Qualys from $150.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Wedbush decreased their price target on Qualys from $155.00 to $125.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 7th.

Qualys Price Performance

QLYS opened at $183.31 on Tuesday. Qualys has a 12-month low of $74.51 and a 12-month high of $201.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.34 billion, a PE ratio of 31.71 and a beta of 0.60. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $145.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $114.39.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The software maker reported $1.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $182.18 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $178.57 million. Qualys had a net margin of 29.38% and a return on equity of 37.52%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.68 EPS. Qualys has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.740-7.880 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.910-1.980 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Qualys will post 5.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Qualys

In other news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,627 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.04, for a total transaction of $248,996.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 75,743 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,591,708.72. This trade represents a 2.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 882 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.17, for a total transaction of $139,505.94. Following the sale, the insider owned 62,689 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,915,519.13. The trade was a 1.39% 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 72,844 shares of company stock valued at $9,304,865 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.72% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qualys

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its position in Qualys by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 1,985 shares of the software maker's stock worth $264,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Qualys by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 5,027 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $665,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its stake 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 buying an additional 90 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in shares of Qualys by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,178 shares of the software maker's stock worth $156,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Qualys by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,231 shares of the software maker's stock worth $164,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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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