Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Receives New Coverage from Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) in a report released on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage issued a hold rating and a $135.00 price objective on the software maker’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on QLYS. DA Davidson raised Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Northland Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $140.00 price objective (down from $150.00) on shares of Qualys in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Qualys from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 7th. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Qualys from $167.00 to $150.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Qualys from $116.00 to $115.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $146.08.

Qualys Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:QLYS opened at $123.21 on Wednesday. Qualys has a 1-year low of $119.32 and a 1-year high of $206.35. The stock has a market cap of $4.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.52 and a beta of 0.46. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $124.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $139.91.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.20. Qualys had a return on equity of 44.80% and a net margin of 29.36%. The business had revenue of $148.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $148.80 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.95 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Qualys will post 3.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Qualys

In other news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,339 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.35, for a total transaction of $191,945.65. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 58,947 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,450,052.45. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,339 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.35, for a total transaction of $191,945.65. Following the sale, the insider now owns 58,947 shares in the company, valued at $8,450,052.45. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total transaction of $876,470.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 179,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,493,851.29. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,535 shares of company stock worth $1,469,140 in the last quarter. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Qualys by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,839,801 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $640,748,000 after purchasing an additional 83,504 shares in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its stake in shares of Qualys by 9.8% in the 2nd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 809,014 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $115,365,000 after purchasing an additional 72,261 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Qualys by 50.9% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 501,847 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $83,743,000 after purchasing an additional 169,293 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in Qualys by 15.3% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 474,100 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $67,607,000 after buying an additional 63,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Qualys by 0.8% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 439,434 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $62,663,000 after buying an additional 3,357 shares in 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.