Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Key Points

• Zacks Research upgraded Qualys from “hold” to “strong buy,” although the broader analyst consensus remains “hold” with a $170.53 average price target.
• Qualys reported quarterly adjusted EPS of $1.98, beating estimates of $1.78, while revenue rose 11.1% year over year to $182.18 million.
• Shares opened at $187.15, near their 52-week high of $201.54; institutional investors own 99.31% of the company, while insiders have sold approximately $9.7 million in stock over the past three months.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) was upgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Wedbush lowered their price target on shares of Qualys from $155.00 to $125.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Qualys from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Qualys from $150.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $190.00 price target on Qualys in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Qualys from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $170.53.

Qualys Stock Performance

QLYS stock opened at $187.15 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $140.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $113.18. Qualys has a fifty-two week low of $74.51 and a fifty-two week high of $201.54. The firm has a market cap of $6.48 billion, a PE ratio of 32.38 and a beta of 0.60.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The software maker reported $1.98 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.20. Qualys had a net margin of 29.38% and a return on equity of 37.52%. The business had revenue of $182.18 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $178.57 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.68 earnings per share. Qualys's quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Qualys has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.740-7.880 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.910-1.980 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Qualys will post 5.85 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Qualys news, Director Wendy Pfeiffer sold 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.19, for a total value of $79,095.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 12,210 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,931,499.90. This represents a 3.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 882 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.17, for a total value of $139,505.94. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 62,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,915,519.13. The trade was a 1.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 76,855 shares of company stock valued at $9,706,670. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qualys

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in QLYS. Root Financial Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Qualys by 206.2% during the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 297 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Strive Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Qualys in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in Qualys by 204.3% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 213 shares of the software maker's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the period. Kilter Group LLC purchased a new position in Qualys during the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Employees Retirement System of Texas purchased a new position in Qualys during the 4th quarter worth $43,000. 99.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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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