Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, thirteen have assigned a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $146.57.

A number of brokerages recently commented on QLYS. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price target on Qualys from $170.00 to $163.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com raised Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Qualys from $162.00 to $135.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their target price on Qualys from $120.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 8,555 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.62, for a total transaction of $1,322,774.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 64,032 shares in the company, valued at $9,900,627.84. The trade was a 11.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,332 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.37, for a total value of $209,616.84. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 113,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,885,415.24. The trade was a 1.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 24,746 shares of company stock worth $3,573,473. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qualys

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in QLYS. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Qualys during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Qualys during the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in Qualys by 88.1% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 333 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in Qualys by 33.9% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 391 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP lifted its stake in Qualys by 56.2% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 439 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Qualys Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of Qualys stock opened at $141.13 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $141.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $135.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.35 and a beta of 0.56. Qualys has a 12 month low of $119.17 and a 12 month high of $174.31.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last issued 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%. Analysts predict that Qualys will post 4.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.