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

Key Points

• Qualys (NASDAQ: QLYS) has received an upgrade from a "hold" to a "buy" rating by Wall Street Zen, indicating increased analyst confidence in the stock's performance.
• Morgan Stanley and other analysts have adjusted their price targets for Qualys, with estimates ranging from $97 to $158, reflecting various levels of market outlook.
• Qualys reported strong earnings with $1.68 per share for the recent quarter, surpassing expectations, and demonstrated a year-over-year revenue increase of 10.3%.

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

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on QLYS. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Qualys from $90.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Qualys from $142.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Qualys from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Qualys from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Wedbush lifted their target price on shares of Qualys from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $141.00.

Qualys Stock Down 0.7%

QLYS stock traded down $0.89 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $132.21. 101,952 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 335,686. The stock has a market cap of $4.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.43 and a beta of 0.56. Qualys has a fifty-two week low of $112.61 and a fifty-two week high of $170.00. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $137.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $133.68.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The software maker reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $164.06 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $161.25 million. Qualys had a return on equity of 37.19% and a net margin of 29.04%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.52 EPS. Qualys has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.200-6.5 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 1.500-1.6 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Qualys will post 3.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Jeffrey P. Hank sold 657 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.07, for a total transaction of $91,368.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 13,888 shares in the company, valued at $1,931,404.16. The trade was a 4.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,018 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.26, for a total transaction of $134,640.68. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 94,468 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,494,337.68. This trade represents a 1.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 52,060 shares of company stock valued at $7,247,888 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Qualys by 24.4% during the 1st quarter. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 41,370 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $5,210,000 after purchasing an additional 8,120 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in Qualys by 4.0% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 8,143 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,036,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Novem Group grew its position in Qualys by 35.0% in the first quarter. Novem Group now owns 7,008 shares of the software maker's stock worth $883,000 after acquiring an additional 1,817 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Qualys by 1.1% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 110,027 shares of the software maker's stock worth $13,856,000 after acquiring an additional 1,177 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Verity Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Qualys in the first quarter worth $360,000. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.