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

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) had its price target decreased by Canaccord Genuity Group from $170.00 to $163.00 in a report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. Canaccord Genuity Group currently has a buy rating on the software maker’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. UBS Group increased their price objective on Qualys from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Qualys from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Wolfe Research upgraded Qualys from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Needham & Company LLC started coverage on Qualys in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Qualys from $150.00 to $162.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $146.14.

Qualys Stock Down 3.7 %

Shares of QLYS stock opened at $135.57 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $143.05 and a 200 day moving average of $135.53. Qualys has a 52 week low of $119.17 and a 52 week high of $174.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.15 and a beta of 0.56.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.16). Qualys had a return on equity of 39.64% and a net margin of 28.59%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Qualys will post 4.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Qualys

In other Qualys news, Director Jeffrey P. Hank sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.31, for a total transaction of $585,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 12,666 shares in the company, valued at $1,853,162.46. The trade was a 24.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 8,555 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.62, for a total value of $1,322,774.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 64,032 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,900,627.84. This represents a 11.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 31,259 shares of company stock valued at $4,578,153 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Qualys by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 5,749 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $806,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. Wealthfront Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Qualys during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,310,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Qualys by 10.1% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 5,139 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $721,000 after acquiring an additional 473 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new position in Qualys in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,775,000. Finally, Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Qualys in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,640,000. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.