Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Wedbush Analyst Says

Key Points

• Wedbush has raised its price target for Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) from $145.00 to $155.00, indicating a potential upside of 19.38% from the stock's previous close and maintaining an "outperform" rating.
• Qualys reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $1.68, surpassing analysts' expectations of $1.47, with a revenue of $164.06 million, reflecting a 10.3% increase year-over-year.
• Insider trades have seen significant activity, with key executives selling portions of their stakes, suggesting a 1.00% insider ownership of the company following recent transactions.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) had its price target raised by stock analysts at Wedbush from $145.00 to $155.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an "outperform" rating on the software maker's stock. Wedbush's price objective indicates a potential upside of 20.96% from the company's current price.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on QLYS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Qualys from $122.00 to $117.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Scotiabank increased their price target on Qualys from $142.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Qualys from $131.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. UBS Group increased their target price on Qualys from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Qualys from $90.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $141.00.

Qualys Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:QLYS traded down $0.49 on Wednesday, hitting $128.14. 84,882 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 338,553. The firm's 50-day moving average is $139.60 and its 200 day moving average is $134.44. The company has a market capitalization of $4.65 billion, a PE ratio of 25.61 and a beta of 0.56. Qualys has a 1-year low of $112.61 and a 1-year high of $170.00.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The software maker reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business's quarterly revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.52 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Qualys will post 3.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Qualys

In related news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 8,500 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.40, for a total value of $1,176,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 215,962 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,889,140.80. This trade represents a 3.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Wendy Pfeiffer sold 200 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.45, for a total value of $27,890.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 11,282 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,573,274.90. This trade represents a 1.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 42,598 shares of company stock valued at $6,019,818. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qualys

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of QLYS. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey raised its holdings in Qualys by 1.2% during the second quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 8,212 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,173,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. denkapparat Operations GmbH purchased a new position in Qualys during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $300,000. Profund Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Qualys during the 2nd quarter valued at $207,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Qualys by 100.6% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 136,835 shares of the software maker's stock worth $19,535,000 after purchasing an additional 68,632 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC boosted its holdings in Qualys by 449.7% in the second quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC now owns 19,340 shares of the software maker's stock worth $2,763,000 after purchasing an additional 15,822 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.31% of the company's stock.

Qualys Company Profile

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.