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

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Qualys from “hold” to “buy,” while the broader analyst consensus remains “hold,” with an average price target of $170.53.
• Qualys shares opened at $183.48, near their 52-week high of $201.54, with a $6.35 billion market capitalization and a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.74.
• The company’s latest results exceeded expectations: adjusted EPS was $1.98 versus the $1.78 consensus, revenue reached $182.18 million, and sales increased 11.1% year over year.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) was upgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on QLYS. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Qualys from $145.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Qualys from $100.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Qualys from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Qualys from $145.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $160.00 target price on Qualys in a report on Wednesday. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $170.53.

Qualys Stock Performance

Shares of QLYS opened at $183.48 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $135.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $112.17. Qualys has a 52-week low of $74.51 and a 52-week high of $201.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.35 billion, a PE ratio of 31.74 and a beta of 0.60.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The software maker reported $1.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $182.18 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $178.57 million. Qualys had a return on equity of 37.52% and a net margin of 29.38%.Qualys's revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.68 EPS. Qualys has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.740-7.880 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.910-1.980 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Qualys will post 5.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Qualys

In other news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 30,000 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.00, for a total value of $4,050,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 196,686 shares in the company, valued at $26,552,610. This trade represents a 13.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,627 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.17, for a total transaction of $162,976.59. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 83,211 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,335,245.87. This represents a 1.92% 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. Insiders sold 76,855 shares of company stock valued at $9,706,670 in the last ninety days. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qualys

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

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.

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.

Continue following MarketBeat

Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.

Add As Preferred Source