Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Northland Capmk

Northland Capmk upgraded shares of Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note published on Wednesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

QLYS has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Zacks Research downgraded Qualys from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Robert W. Baird set a $150.00 price objective on Qualys in a research note on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Qualys from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Northland Securities set a $162.00 price objective on Qualys in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their target price on Qualys from $150.00 to $139.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $140.38.

Qualys Trading Up 20.6%

Shares of QLYS opened at $146.13 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $131.31 and its 200 day moving average is $134.16. The company has a market capitalization of $5.27 billion, a PE ratio of 29.17 and a beta of 0.58. Qualys has a 12-month low of $112.61 and a 12-month high of $170.00.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The software maker reported $1.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.56 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $169.88 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $166.30 million. Qualys had a return on equity of 37.19% and a net margin of 29.04%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.56 EPS. Qualys has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.930-7.000 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 1.730-1.800 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Qualys will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Qualys news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.12, for a total value of $68,644.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 56,775 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,217,238. This represents a 0.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kristi Marie Rogers sold 1,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.70, for a total value of $228,990.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 8,596 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,157,881.20. The trade was a 16.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 38,346 shares of company stock worth $5,028,258. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in QLYS. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Qualys by 96.8% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 688,776 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $85,394,000 after buying an additional 338,702 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in Qualys by 92.2% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 643,238 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $81,003,000 after buying an additional 308,635 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Qualys in the first quarter valued at about $13,291,000. Boston Trust Walden Corp increased its holdings in shares of Qualys by 8.4% in the second quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,137,864 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $162,567,000 after purchasing an additional 88,051 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Qualys by 100.6% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 136,835 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $19,535,000 after purchasing an additional 68,632 shares during the period. 99.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.