Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) Receives $146.57 Average Target Price from Analysts

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, thirteen have issued a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $146.57.

Several research analysts have issued reports on QLYS shares. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Qualys from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Qualys from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price objective on shares of Qualys from $170.00 to $163.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Qualys from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Qualys from $162.00 to $135.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Qualys

In other Qualys news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 8,555 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.62, for a total value of $1,322,774.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 64,032 shares in the company, valued at $9,900,627.84. This represents a 11.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,332 shares of the company’s 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 approximately $17,885,415.24. This represents a 1.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 29,288 shares of company stock valued at $4,209,716. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qualys

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Qualys during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Qualys during the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its position in Qualys by 88.1% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 333 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Qualys during the fourth quarter valued at $54,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in Qualys by 33.9% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 391 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Qualys Stock Performance

Shares of Qualys stock opened at $143.76 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.26 billion, a PE ratio of 30.92 and a beta of 0.56. Qualys has a 52-week low of $119.17 and a 52-week high of $174.31. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $141.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $135.27.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last issued its earnings results 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 return on equity of 39.64% and a net margin of 28.59%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Qualys will post 4.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.