Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Reaches New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $164.21 and last traded at $164.12, with a volume of 768402 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $151.54.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Qualys from $135.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Qualys from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Qualys from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $100.00 to $190.00 in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Qualys from $120.00 to $85.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Wedbush decreased their price target on Qualys from $155.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $136.80.

Qualys Trading Down 1.1%

The company has a 50-day moving average of $118.49 and a 200-day moving average of $109.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.29 and a beta of 0.61.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The software maker reported $1.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81 by $0.14. Qualys had a net margin of 29.41% and a return on equity of 37.15%. The firm had revenue of $175.64 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $173.63 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.67 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. Qualys has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.440-7.650 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.730-1.800 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Qualys, Inc. will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Qualys

In other Qualys news, Director Thomas Berquist sold 939 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.75, for a total value of $103,994.25. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,781 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $750,995.75. This trade represents a 12.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,627 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.17, for a total value of $162,976.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 83,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,335,245.87. The trade was a 1.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 73,846 shares of company stock valued at $9,239,073. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Qualys

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in QLYS. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position in Qualys by 3,948.0% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 2,024 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $255,000 after purchasing an additional 1,974 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Qualys in the second quarter worth $292,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in Qualys by 3,218.8% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 531 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 515 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Qualys by 482.0% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 646 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $92,000 after buying an additional 535 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its stake in Qualys by 47.1% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 21,365 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $3,076,000 after buying an additional 6,844 shares during the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Qualys

Qualys, Inc (NASDAQ: QLYS) is a leading provider of cloud-based security and compliance solutions designed to help organizations streamline their IT security programs. Operating on a unified, modular platform, Qualys offers continuous visibility into global IT assets through a combination of lightweight cloud agents and on-premises scanner appliances. The platform supports an array of security and compliance use cases, enabling real-time detection of vulnerabilities, policy violations and misconfigurations across on-premises, cloud and hybrid environments.

The company’s flagship Qualys Cloud Platform delivers a suite of integrated applications, including vulnerability management, detection and response (VMDR), policy compliance, web application scanning, file integrity monitoring, asset inventory and container security.