Qualys’ (QLYS) “Hold” Rating Reaffirmed at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed their hold rating on shares of Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on QLYS. Scotiabank decreased their target price on Qualys from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Qualys from $120.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Qualys from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price objective on shares of Qualys from $170.00 to $163.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Qualys presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $146.57.

Qualys Stock Performance

Shares of QLYS stock opened at $137.70 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $143.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $135.53. Qualys has a 52-week low of $119.17 and a 52-week high of $174.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.61 and a beta of 0.56.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.16). Qualys had a net margin of 28.59% and a return on equity of 39.64%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Qualys will post 4.31 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Qualys

In other news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 8,555 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.62, for a total transaction of $1,322,774.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 64,032 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,900,627.84. The trade was a 11.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.66, for a total value of $1,047,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 225,453 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,741,295.98. This trade represents a 3.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 31,259 shares of company stock worth $4,578,153. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qualys

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of QLYS. Horizon Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Qualys during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,510,000. Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new position in Qualys during the fourth quarter valued at $487,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its holdings in Qualys by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 6,035 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $846,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its position in Qualys by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 31,237 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $4,380,000 after purchasing an additional 1,809 shares during the period. Finally, Aurora Investment Counsel purchased a new position in shares of Qualys during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,243,000. 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.