JPMorgan Chase & Co. Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Stock

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) had its price objective raised by stock analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $115.00 to $117.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “underweight” rating on the software maker’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s target price would suggest a potential downside of 20.26% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Northland Securities set a $162.00 price target on shares of Qualys in a research report on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Qualys from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 30th. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Qualys from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Robert W. Baird set a $150.00 price target on shares of Qualys in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $150.00 price target on shares of Qualys in a research report on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Qualys presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $141.07.

Qualys Stock Up 21.1%

NASDAQ:QLYS traded up $25.52 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $146.73. The company had a trading volume of 897,012 shares, compared to its average volume of 335,295. Qualys has a 52-week low of $112.61 and a 52-week high of $170.00. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $131.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $134.07. The company has a market capitalization of $5.30 billion, a PE ratio of 29.20 and a beta of 0.58.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Qualys news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.82, for a total value of $1,077,970.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 203,951 shares in the company, valued at $25,865,065.82. This trade represents a 4.00% 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 540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.12, for a total transaction of $68,644.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 56,775 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,217,238. This trade represents a 0.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 38,346 shares of company stock valued at $5,028,258 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Qualys

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its holdings in Qualys by 4.6% in the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,038 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $291,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. Arkadios Wealth Advisors lifted its holdings in Qualys by 2.4% in the second quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 4,006 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $572,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the period. Occidental Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Qualys by 4.3% in the second quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC now owns 2,283 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $326,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. Cim LLC lifted its holdings in Qualys by 1.2% in the first quarter. Cim LLC now owns 8,561 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,078,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the period. Finally, State of Michigan Retirement System lifted its holdings in Qualys by 1.2% in the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 8,776 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,105,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.