Royal Bank of Canada Cuts Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Price Target to $135.00

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) had its price objective cut by Royal Bank of Canada from $162.00 to $135.00 in a report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a sector perform rating on the software maker’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on QLYS. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Qualys from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Qualys from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their target price on shares of Qualys from $170.00 to $163.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Needham & Company LLC began coverage on shares of Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Qualys from $120.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $146.14.

Qualys Price Performance

QLYS opened at $135.57 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.15 and a beta of 0.56. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $143.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $135.53. Qualys has a fifty-two week low of $119.17 and a fifty-two week high of $174.73.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $1.19 earnings per share 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%. As a group, analysts expect that Qualys will post 4.31 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 882 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.66, for a total transaction of $123,180.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 62,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,700,119.70. This represents a 1.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,332 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.37, for a total transaction of $209,616.84. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 113,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,885,415.24. The trade was a 1.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 31,259 shares of company stock worth $4,578,153 over the last quarter. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Qualys by 1.4% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Qualys in the fourth quarter valued at $4,310,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in Qualys by 10.1% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new stake in Qualys in the fourth quarter valued at $1,775,000. Finally, Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Qualys in the fourth quarter valued at $1,640,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.