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

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) had its price target hoisted by investment analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $150.00 to $162.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “sector perform” rating on the software maker’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 4.46% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on QLYS. StockNews.com lowered shares of Qualys from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 3rd. Westpark Capital reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a research report on Monday, August 5th. DA Davidson raised Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Qualys from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $140.00 price target (down from $150.00) on shares of Qualys in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Qualys has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $152.80.

Qualys Trading Down 2.6 %

Shares of QLYS opened at $155.08 on Wednesday. Qualys has a twelve month low of $119.17 and a twelve month high of $206.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.16 and a beta of 0.47. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $125.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $136.45.

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

Insider Transactions at Qualys

In related news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total value of $876,470.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 179,649 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,493,851.29. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total value of $876,470.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 179,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,493,851.29. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,339 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.56, for a total transaction of $165,446.84. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 55,279 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,830,273.24. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 10,919 shares of company stock worth $1,360,140 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Qualys

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in QLYS. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Qualys by 294.7% during the second 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. lifted its position in Qualys by 149.0% during the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 239 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Qualys in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $40,000. DT Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Qualys in the second quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its position in Qualys by 53.6% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 639 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $82,000 after acquiring an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.