Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Raised to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Sunday morning.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on QLYS. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective 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. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Qualys from $145.00 to $130.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Wedbush dropped their price target on Qualys from $160.00 to $145.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Qualys from $131.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price objective on Qualys from $163.00 to $158.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $137.50.

Qualys Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of QLYS stock traded up $1.19 during trading on Friday, reaching $141.19. 218,087 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 370,976. Qualys has a twelve month low of $112.61 and a twelve month high of $170.00. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $133.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $134.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.13 billion, a PE ratio of 28.87 and a beta of 0.61.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The software maker reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $159.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $157.05 million. Qualys had a net margin of 29.19% and a return on equity of 38.05%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.45 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Qualys will post 3.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Qualys news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 8,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.30, for a total transaction of $1,158,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 237,962 shares in the company, valued at $32,434,220.60. The trade was a 3.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,358 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.87, for a total value of $169,573.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 105,740 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,203,753.80. This represents a 1.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 33,630 shares of company stock valued at $4,461,516 over the last quarter. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Qualys

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of QLYS. Voya Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Qualys by 3.2% during the first quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 293,050 shares of the software maker's stock worth $36,904,000 after acquiring an additional 9,212 shares in the last quarter. Cim LLC grew its holdings in shares of Qualys by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Cim LLC now owns 8,561 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $1,078,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio acquired a new position in Qualys during the 1st quarter worth approximately $416,000. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its position in Qualys by 35.6% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 23,988 shares of the software maker's stock worth $3,021,000 after purchasing an additional 6,292 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in Qualys by 92.2% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 643,238 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $81,003,000 after purchasing an additional 308,635 shares during the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Qualys Company Profile

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.