Royal Bank of Canada Lowers Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Price Target to $150.00

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) had its price objective dropped by equities researchers at Royal Bank of Canada from $180.00 to $150.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “sector perform” rating on the software maker’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 18.10% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on QLYS. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com cut shares of Qualys from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 3rd. Wedbush cut their price target on Qualys from $190.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Scotiabank started coverage on Qualys in a report on Friday, April 26th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $172.00 target price on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Qualys currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $149.92.

Qualys Price Performance

NASDAQ QLYS traded down $0.12 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $127.01. 125,188 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 454,727. Qualys has a fifty-two week low of $121.64 and a fifty-two week high of $206.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.43 and a beta of 0.49. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $139.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $157.11.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.20. Qualys had a net margin of 28.48% and a return on equity of 47.28%. The business had revenue of $148.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $148.80 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.95 EPS. Qualys’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Qualys will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 616 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.93, for a total value of $82,500.88. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 87,077 shares in the company, valued at $11,662,222.61. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 616 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.93, for a total value of $82,500.88. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 87,077 shares in the company, valued at $11,662,222.61. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,330 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.14, for a total value of $179,736.20. Following the sale, the insider now owns 59,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,011,910.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 29,715 shares of company stock valued at $4,142,951. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qualys

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Qualys during the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Qualys by 1,666.7% during the 1st quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 159 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Qualys by 294.7% during the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 225 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 168 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in Qualys by 545.2% in the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 200 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DecisionPoint Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Qualys in the first quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by 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.