Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Reaches New 1-Year High After Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Qualys shares hit a new 52-week high after Scotiabank upgraded the stock from sector perform to sector outperform and raised its price target sharply to $190 from $100. The stock traded as high as $155.97 on the session.
• Recent analyst sentiment has been mixed, but the broader view remains cautious overall: MarketBeat says the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $132.29. Several firms have recently issued holds or downgraded the name.
• Qualys reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $1.95 versus the $1.81 consensus and revenue up 9.8% year over year. The company also guided FY2026 EPS to $7.44-$7.65, while insiders have sold shares in recent months.

Shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday after Scotiabank upgraded the stock from a sector perform rating to a sector outperform rating. Scotiabank now has a $190.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $100.00. Qualys traded as high as $155.97 and last traded at $158.06, with a volume of 69387 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $148.12.

QLYS has been the topic of several other reports. Morgan Stanley set a $96.00 target price on Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Qualys from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. William Blair downgraded Qualys from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Qualys from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Qualys in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $132.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Wendy Pfeiffer sold 500 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.55, for a total value of $55,275.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 12,710 shares in the company, valued at $1,405,090.50. The trade was a 3.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Jeffrey P. Hank sold 470 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.88, for a total value of $51,173.60. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 16,046 shares in the company, valued at $1,747,088.48. This represents a 2.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 71,881 shares of company stock worth $8,945,654. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qualys

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Qualys by 24.1% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,372,587 shares of the software maker's stock worth $182,417,000 after buying an additional 266,924 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Qualys by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,256,002 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $168,380,000 after buying an additional 48,877 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of Qualys by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,156,412 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $153,687,000 after acquiring an additional 75,397 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Qualys by 46.9% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,012,100 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $144,133,000 after acquiring an additional 323,324 shares during the period. Finally, Fundsmith LLP boosted its stake in shares of Qualys by 21.2% during the 3rd quarter. Fundsmith LLP now owns 870,859 shares of the software maker's stock worth $115,241,000 after acquiring an additional 152,257 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.31% of the company's stock.

Qualys Trading Up 6.9%

The firm has a market cap of $5.58 billion, a PE ratio of 28.42 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $106.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $108.92.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The software maker reported $1.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.81 by $0.14. The firm 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%.Qualys's quarterly revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $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. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Qualys, Inc. 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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