Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Research Coverage Started at Scotiabank

Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) in a research report released on Friday morning, Marketbeat reports. The firm issued a sector perform rating and a $172.00 target price on the software maker’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on QLYS. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Qualys from $212.00 to $180.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Qualys in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. They issued a market perform rating and a $170.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Qualys from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Sunday, April 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Qualys from $146.00 to $152.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Wedbush dropped their target price on shares of Qualys from $230.00 to $210.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $154.57.

Qualys Stock Performance

Shares of QLYS stock opened at $170.36 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $166.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $175.60. Qualys has a one year low of $107.00 and a one year high of $206.35. The firm has a market cap of $6.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.17 and a beta of 0.51.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The software maker reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $144.57 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $144.69 million. Qualys had a net margin of 27.34% and a return on equity of 49.06%. As a group, research analysts predict that Qualys will post 3.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Qualys

In other news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,130 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.49, for a total transaction of $191,523.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 96,734 shares in the company, valued at $16,395,445.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,130 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.49, for a total transaction of $191,523.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 96,734 shares in the company, valued at $16,395,445.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 4,120 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.62, for a total transaction of $690,594.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 194,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,598,905.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 14,792 shares of company stock worth $2,455,489. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qualys

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in Qualys by 121.9% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 360,294 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $70,719,000 after buying an additional 197,911 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its position in Qualys by 172.3% during the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 193,056 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $37,893,000 after buying an additional 122,168 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Qualys by 201,932.8% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 117,179 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $23,000,000 after buying an additional 117,121 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in Qualys during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $18,844,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Qualys by 46.9% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 250,661 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $38,238,000 after buying an additional 80,079 shares in the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.