Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Trading 7.5% Higher on Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Qualys shares rose 7.5% after JPMorgan Chase upgraded the stock from underweight to neutral and raised its price target to $139 from $87.
• Despite the upgrade, analyst sentiment remains cautious overall: the stock still carries a consensus Hold rating, with an average target price of $125.86.
• Qualys recently reported strong quarterly results, beating EPS and revenue estimates, while also guiding FY2026 EPS to 7.44-7.65; meanwhile, insiders have sold shares in recent weeks.

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report)'s share price was up 7.5% on Tuesday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded the stock from an underweight rating to a neutral rating. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now has a $139.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $87.00. Qualys traded as high as $136.00 and last traded at $137.9060. 87,738 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average daily volume of 747,655 shares. The stock had previously closed at $128.32.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on QLYS. Wall Street Zen lowered Qualys from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. William Blair downgraded shares of Qualys from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Qualys from $135.00 to $100.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Qualys from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their target price on Qualys from $135.00 to $100.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $125.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 865 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.44, for a total value of $94,665.60. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 64,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,066,650.24. The trade was a 1.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Jeffrey P. Hank sold 470 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.88, for a total transaction of $51,173.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 16,046 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,747,088.48. This trade represents a 2.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 31,881 shares of company stock worth $3,628,154 in the last quarter. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Root Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in Qualys by 206.2% in the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 297 shares of the software maker's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Strive Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Qualys in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in Qualys by 204.3% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 213 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in shares of Qualys by 86.8% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 284 shares of the software maker's stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the period. Finally, Employees Retirement System of Texas bought a new stake in shares of Qualys in the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.31% of the company's stock.

Qualys Stock Performance

The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $101.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $109.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.83 billion, a PE ratio of 24.59 and a beta of 0.65.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The software maker reported $1.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.81 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $175.64 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $173.63 million. Qualys had a net margin of 29.41% and a return on equity of 37.15%. Qualys's revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.67 earnings per share. 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, analysts predict that Qualys, Inc. will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Qualys

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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