Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold”

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

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Qualys in a research note on Friday, April 26th. They issued a sector perform rating and a $172.00 price target for the company. Needham & Company LLC restated a hold rating on shares of Qualys in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Qualys from $175.00 to $170.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Qualys from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $167.09.

Qualys Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ QLYS opened at $137.10 on Friday. Qualys has a 1 year low of $131.00 and a 1 year high of $206.35. The firm has a market cap of $5.06 billion, a PE ratio of 31.74 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $140.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $157.54.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.78, for a total value of $957,460.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 186,601 shares in the company, valued at $25,523,284.78. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,330 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.24, for a total value of $193,169.20. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 59,616 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,658,627.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.78, for a total value of $957,460.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 186,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,523,284.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 29,099 shares of company stock worth $4,060,450 over the last quarter. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qualys

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in shares of Qualys in the fourth quarter worth about $18,844,000. Dorsey Wright & Associates bought a new position in Qualys in the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,455,000. Intrust Bank NA raised its holdings in Qualys by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Intrust Bank NA now owns 4,984 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $978,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. NewSquare Capital LLC bought a new stake in Qualys during the 4th quarter valued at $3,731,000. Finally, Roberts Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Qualys during the first quarter worth $863,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

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.