Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Lowered to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Tuesday.

QLYS has been the subject of several other reports. Scotiabank began coverage on Qualys in a research note on Friday, April 26th. They set a sector perform rating and a $172.00 target price for the company. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Qualys from $175.00 to $170.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a hold rating on shares of Qualys in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Qualys from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, TD Cowen started coverage on Qualys in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. They issued a market perform rating and a $170.00 target price for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Qualys currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $162.23.

Qualys Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:QLYS opened at $143.58 on Tuesday. Qualys has a 12-month low of $122.53 and a 12-month high of $206.35. The company has a market capitalization of $5.30 billion, a PE ratio of 33.24 and a beta of 0.49. The business has a 50 day moving average of $146.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $166.70.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The software maker reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.17. Qualys had a return on equity of 47.28% and a net margin of 28.48%. The company had revenue of $145.81 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $145.67 million. Equities research analysts predict that Qualys will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Qualys

In other news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 4,034 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.96, for a total transaction of $661,414.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 193,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,743,967.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Qualys news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,443 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.33, for a total transaction of $241,457.19. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 62,614 shares in the company, valued at $10,477,200.62. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 4,034 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.96, for a total transaction of $661,414.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 193,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,743,967.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 28,443 shares of company stock worth $4,148,987. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Qualys

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mariner LLC boosted its position in shares of Qualys by 35.4% during the third quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 3,329 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $508,000 after purchasing an additional 871 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp increased its stake in Qualys by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 13,139 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,004,000 after buying an additional 524 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Qualys by 102.1% during the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 41,152 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $6,277,000 after purchasing an additional 20,794 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Qualys by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 150,737 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $22,995,000 after purchasing an additional 17,333 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Shelton Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Qualys during the 3rd quarter worth about $235,000. 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.