Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Stock Price Up 7% - Still a Buy?

Key Points

• Qualys shares rose 7% in mid-day trading, reaching as high as $158.73 after closing at $151.54, though trading volume was far below average.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed: several firms cut price targets, and the stock currently carries an average “Hold” rating with an average target price of $133.13.
• Qualys posted better-than-expected Q1 earnings of $1.95 per share on revenue of $175.64 million, and raised FY2026 guidance, even as insiders have sold shares recently.

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report)'s stock price traded up 7% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $158.73 and last traded at $162.1470. 79,220 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 90% from the average daily volume of 760,565 shares. The stock had previously closed at $151.54.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on QLYS. Wedbush reduced their price objective on Qualys from $155.00 to $125.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Qualys from $135.00 to $100.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Qualys from $90.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price target on shares of Qualys from $150.00 to $125.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $96.00 price target on shares of Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Qualys has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $133.13.

Qualys Stock Performance

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $114.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $109.49. The company has a market capitalization of $5.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.11 and a beta of 0.61.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 30,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.00, for a total transaction of $4,050,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 196,686 shares in the company, valued at $26,552,610. The trade was a 13.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 2,384 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.18, for a total transaction of $238,829.12. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 66,301 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,642,034.18. This represents a 3.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 have sold a total of 73,846 shares of company stock worth $9,239,073 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qualys

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Qualys by 3,948.0% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 2,024 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $255,000 after buying an additional 1,974 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Qualys in the second quarter worth $292,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in Qualys by 3,218.8% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 531 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 515 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Qualys by 482.0% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 646 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $92,000 after acquiring an additional 535 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi boosted its position in shares of Qualys by 47.1% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 21,365 shares of the software maker's stock worth $3,076,000 after purchasing an additional 6,844 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.31% of the company's stock.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.