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

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) was upgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Qualys from $150.00 to $162.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Qualys from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Qualys from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Qualys from $120.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Qualys has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $149.25.

Qualys Trading Down 3.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ QLYS opened at $135.57 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.86 and a beta of 0.56. Qualys has a 12 month low of $119.17 and a 12 month high of $174.73. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $143.41 and a 200-day moving average of $135.70.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.16). Qualys had a net margin of 28.72% and a return on equity of 40.24%. Analysts predict that Qualys will post 4.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Trading of Qualys

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in QLYS. Aigen Investment Management LP acquired a new stake in Qualys during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $445,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Qualys by 208.5% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 86,187 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $11,072,000 after acquiring an additional 58,252 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Qualys by 428.9% during the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 18,256 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,345,000 after purchasing an additional 14,804 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Qualys by 40.0% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 29,015 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $3,525,000 after purchasing an additional 8,291 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of Qualys by 6.8% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 63,320 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $8,134,000 after purchasing an additional 4,040 shares during the last quarter. 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.