Analysts Set Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) Price Target at $141.80

Shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the seventeen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $142.5333.

Several brokerages have recently commented on QLYS. Morgan Stanley set a $96.00 price target on Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Qualys from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Qualys from $135.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Scotiabank raised Qualys from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $100.00 to $190.00 in a report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Qualys from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th.

Qualys Stock Up 4.9%

Shares of NASDAQ QLYS opened at $141.71 on Friday. Qualys has a 52 week low of $74.51 and a 52 week high of $167.86. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $128.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $110.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.44 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $173.63 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $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. Equities research analysts expect that Qualys will post 5.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Qualys

In related news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 2,384 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.18, for a total value of $238,829.12. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 66,301 shares in the company, valued at $6,642,034.18. The trade was a 3.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Thomas Berquist sold 939 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.75, for a total transaction of $103,994.25. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,781 shares in the company, valued at approximately $750,995.75. The trade was a 12.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 75,228 shares of company stock worth $9,457,674. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Qualys

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Qualys by 24.1% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,372,587 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $182,417,000 after purchasing an additional 266,924 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Qualys by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,256,002 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $168,380,000 after buying an additional 48,877 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Qualys by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,156,412 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $153,687,000 after buying an additional 75,397 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Qualys by 46.9% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,012,100 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $144,133,000 after buying an additional 323,324 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 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 valued at $73,161,000 after buying an additional 465,952 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

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.