Royal Bank of Canada Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Stock

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) had its price target raised by stock analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $150.00 to $162.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “sector perform” rating on the software maker’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 4.46% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on QLYS. UBS Group cut their price objective on Qualys from $170.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Wedbush reduced their price objective on Qualys from $190.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Northland Securities restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $140.00 price target (down from $150.00) on shares of Qualys in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Qualys in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. They set a “hold” rating and a $135.00 price objective for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Qualys currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $152.80.

Qualys Stock Down 2.6 %

Shares of QLYS opened at $155.08 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $5.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.16 and a beta of 0.47. The business’s 50 day moving average is $125.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $136.45. Qualys has a 52-week low of $119.17 and a 52-week high of $206.35.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The software maker reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $153.87 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $150.74 million. Qualys had a net margin of 29.36% and a return on equity of 44.80%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.24 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Qualys will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 616 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.54, for a total value of $76,100.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 86,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,695,599.04. This 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 through the SEC website. In other news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,339 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.56, for a total value of $165,446.84. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 55,279 shares in the company, valued at $6,830,273.24. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 616 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.54, for a total value of $76,100.64. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 86,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,695,599.04. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 10,919 shares of company stock valued at $1,360,140. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qualys

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Qualys by 294.7% in the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 225 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in Qualys by 149.0% in the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 239 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Qualys in the second quarter valued at $40,000. DT Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Qualys during the 2nd quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its stake in shares of Qualys by 53.6% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 639 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.