Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Raised to “Buy” at StockNews.com

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) was upgraded by StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Saturday.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on QLYS. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Qualys in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $120.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Qualys from $145.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Scotiabank cut their price target on Qualys from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price objective on Qualys from $170.00 to $163.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Northland Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $146.00 target price (down previously from $150.00) on shares of Qualys in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $144.36.

Qualys Trading Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ:QLYS opened at $124.10 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $130.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $136.21. The company has a market cap of $4.53 billion, a PE ratio of 26.69 and a beta of 0.71. Qualys has a twelve month low of $112.61 and a twelve month high of $174.20.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.16). Qualys had a return on equity of 38.52% and a net margin of 28.59%. As a group, analysts expect that Qualys will post 3.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Qualys

In other Qualys news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,358 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.87, for a total transaction of $169,573.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 105,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,203,753.80. This represents a 1.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.49, for a total value of $941,430.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 225,453 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,321,173.97. This trade represents a 3.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 26,480 shares of company stock valued at $3,654,266 over the last three months. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qualys

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. MML Investors Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Qualys by 21.6% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 20,864 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,680,000 after acquiring an additional 3,701 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Qualys by 101.8% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 112,214 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $14,415,000 after purchasing an additional 56,613 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp increased its position in Qualys by 36.7% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 2,262 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $291,000 after purchasing an additional 607 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Qualys by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,246,562 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $160,957,000 after buying an additional 20,038 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Qualys by 16.3% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,650 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $212,000 after buying an additional 231 shares during the period. 99.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.