UBS Group Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Stock Price

Key Points

• UBS Group has reduced its target price for Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) from $150.00 to $145.00, while maintaining a "neutral" rating, indicating a potential upside of 12.63% from previous close.
• Recent earnings results show Qualys reported $1.68 earnings per share, exceeding analysts' expectations of $1.47, with a revenue increase of 10.3% year-over-year.
• Insider selling activity includes CEO Sumedh S. Thakar selling 8,500 shares, representing a 3.96% decrease in his ownership stake, signaling possible concerns about the company's future performance.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) had its target price cut by investment analysts at UBS Group from $150.00 to $145.00 in a report issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. The firm presently has a "neutral" rating on the software maker's stock. UBS Group's price target suggests a potential upside of 12.63% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on QLYS. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Qualys in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Qualys from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Qualys from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 30th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Qualys from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Qualys from $142.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $140.62.

Qualys Price Performance

QLYS traded up $1.11 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $128.74. The company had a trading volume of 5,286 shares, compared to its average volume of 331,977. The company has a market cap of $4.65 billion, a PE ratio of 25.73 and a beta of 0.62. Qualys has a 1-year low of $112.61 and a 1-year high of $170.00. The business has a 50-day moving average of $132.28 and a 200-day moving average of $133.63.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Qualys news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.49, for a total transaction of $1,126,165.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 205,951 shares in the company, valued at $27,286,447.99. This trade represents a 3.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John A. Zangardi sold 3,860 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.82, for a total value of $520,405.20. Following the transaction, the director owned 7,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $967,198.68. This trade represents a 34.98% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 38,824 shares of company stock worth $5,094,254. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qualys

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Qualys in the second quarter worth $44,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Qualys by 82.7% in the first quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 369 shares of the software maker's stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Qualys by 52.4% in the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 436 shares of the software maker's stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Qualys by 82.0% in the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 484 shares of the software maker's stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP grew its stake in shares of Qualys by 154.9% in the first quarter. Quarry LP now owns 576 shares of the software maker's stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.31% of the company's stock.

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.

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