Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Shares Cross Below 50 Day Moving Average – Here’s What Happened

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)’s stock price crossed below its 50 day moving average during trading on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $190.76 and traded as low as $187.86. Qualys shares last traded at $190.41, with a volume of 1,110,081 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on QLYS shares. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Qualys from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $190.00 price target on Qualys in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Qualys from $145.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Zacks Research raised shares of Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $160.00 target price on shares of Qualys in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $185.87.

Qualys Stock Down 4.6%

The company has a market cap of $6.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.94 and a beta of 0.54. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $190.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $136.71.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The software maker reported $1.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $182.18 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $178.57 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 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.68 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Qualys, Inc. will post 5.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Bruce Posey sold 881 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.52, for a total transaction of $166,967.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 57,807 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,955,582.64. This trade represents a 1.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 3,200 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The shares were 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 directly owned 180,338 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,666,476.90. The trade was a 1.74% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 11,672 shares of company stock valued at $2,192,747 in the last 90 days. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qualys

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Aberdeen Group plc purchased a new position in Qualys in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $24,243,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Qualys by 106.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 236,700 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $44,310,000 after purchasing an additional 121,771 shares during the last quarter. Csenge Advisory Group boosted its position in shares of Qualys by 5.1% in the third quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 2,016 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $377,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the period. Leuthold Group LLC lifted its position in Qualys by 288.2% in the third quarter. Leuthold Group LLC now owns 27,393 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $5,128,000 after purchasing an additional 20,336 shares during the period. Finally, Fulcrum Asset Management LLP increased its stake in shares of Qualys by 2,020.0% in the third quarter. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP now owns 3,498 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $624,000 after buying an additional 3,333 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

About Qualys

Qualys, Inc is a cloud-based cybersecurity company that helps organizations identify, assess and manage security risks across information technology environments. Its platform is designed to provide visibility into assets, vulnerabilities, configurations and compliance requirements across on-premises infrastructure, endpoints, networks, applications and cloud environments.

The company’s offerings include vulnerability management, detection and response, policy compliance, asset inventory, web application security, endpoint security and cloud security capabilities.