Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Shares Climb 5.7% – What’s Next?

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) rose 5.7% during mid-day trading on Wednesday. The company traded as high as $186.65 and last traded at $188.5010. 100,842 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 87% from the average session volume of 752,572 shares. The stock had previously closed at $178.35.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on QLYS. Weiss Ratings raised Qualys from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, August 24th. Zacks Research raised Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Qualys from $145.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Qualys from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Qualys from $139.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Qualys presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $173.87.

Qualys Price Performance

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $171.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $129.84. The company has a market cap of $6.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.59 and a beta of 0.62.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The software maker reported $1.98 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $182.18 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $178.57 million. Qualys had a net margin of 29.38% and a return on equity of 37.52%. Qualys’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.68 EPS. Qualys has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.740-7.880 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.910-1.980 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Qualys, Inc. will post 5.84 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sumedh Thakar sold 3,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.05, for a total value of $544,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 180,338 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,666,476.90. This trade represents a 1.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Wendy Pfeiffer sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.19, for a total transaction of $79,095.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 12,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,931,499.90. This trade represents a 3.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 9,906 shares of company stock valued at $1,620,158. Company insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qualys

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Kilter Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Qualys in the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Continuum Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Qualys during the second quarter worth approximately $33,000. Root Financial Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Qualys by 206.2% in the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 297 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Qualys in the 2nd quarter valued at $51,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Qualys by 37,400.0% during the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 375 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 374 shares in the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Qualys

Qualys, Inc provides cloud-based information technology, security and compliance solutions for organizations worldwide. Its platform is designed to help businesses identify, assess and manage security vulnerabilities across their networks, endpoints, cloud environments and web applications.

The company’s offerings include vulnerability management, asset inventory, security and compliance assessment, web application security, endpoint detection and response, and cloud security capabilities.