Wedbush Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Stock

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) had its price target lifted by stock analysts at Wedbush from $175.00 to $185.00 in a report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the software maker’s stock. Wedbush‘s target price suggests a potential upside of 2.73% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on QLYS. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Qualys from $145.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Qualys from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $190.00 target price on shares of Qualys in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Qualys from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Qualys from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $190.53.

Qualys Stock Down 11.0%

Shares of NASDAQ QLYS traded down $22.37 on Tuesday, hitting $180.09. The company had a trading volume of 418,531 shares, compared to its average volume of 757,706. Qualys has a 12-month low of $74.51 and a 12-month high of $235.54. The business has a 50 day moving average of $191.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $137.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.99 and a beta of 0.54.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 9th. The software maker reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.96 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $188.05 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $186.63 million. Qualys had a return on equity of 37.52% and a net margin of 29.38%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.86 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Qualys will post 5.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Qualys news, CEO Sumedh S. 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 transaction of $544,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 180,338 shares in the company, valued at $30,666,476.90. This trade represents a 1.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 2,659 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.66, for a total value of $557,485.94. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 68,208 shares in the company, valued at $14,300,489.28. This represents a 3.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 11,672 shares of company stock worth $2,192,747. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Qualys

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Qualys in the second quarter worth $792,316,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in Qualys during the 2nd quarter valued at $197,624,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in Qualys by 127.0% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 832,796 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $73,161,000 after acquiring an additional 465,952 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Qualys during the 2nd quarter worth $39,044,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in Qualys during the 2nd quarter worth $21,852,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Qualys

Here are the key news stories impacting Qualys this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Qualys reported Q3 revenue of $188.05 million, up about 11% year over year and ahead of the $186.63 million consensus. EPS of $2.12 also exceeded estimates of about $1.96. Qualys Q3 results
• Positive Sentiment: The company raised its FY2026 outlook: revenue is now forecast at $736.9 million–$738.9 million, while EPS guidance of $8.07–$8.14 is above the cited $7.44 consensus. Q4 EPS guidance of $2.05–$2.12 also tops the $1.86 estimate. FY2026 guidance
• Positive Sentiment: Qualys expanded its mROC alliance with technology partners spanning mobile, operational technology, IoT, and identity security, potentially broadening the reach of its risk-management offerings. mROC alliance expansion
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst target changes were mixed: Piper Sandler raised its target to $185 but kept a neutral rating, while Baird raised its target to $210 and also maintained a neutral rating. Piper Sandler rating Baird rating
• Neutral Sentiment: Management plans to meet with investors and participate in a fireside chat at the UBS Global Technology and AI Conference. Investor conference announcement
• Negative Sentiment: Despite the earnings beat, Q4 revenue guidance of $191 million–$193 million was only marginally above the $190.9 million consensus. Reports cited the revenue outlook as a factor weighing on the stock. Coverage of Q3 results and outlook

Qualys Company Profile

Qualys, Inc provides cloud-based security and compliance software to help organizations identify and manage cybersecurity risks. Its platform brings together information about an organization’s IT assets and security posture to support vulnerability management, threat detection, and compliance activities.

Qualys offers products and services for vulnerability assessment and remediation, cloud security, endpoint protection, web application security, and policy compliance. Its solutions are designed to help customers monitor systems across cloud environments, on-premises infrastructure, and other connected assets.

Founded in 1999, Qualys is headquartered in Foster City, California, and serves customers around the world.