Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold”

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Friday.

QLYS has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Qualys from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Qualys from $162.00 to $135.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price target on Qualys from $170.00 to $163.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their price objective on Qualys from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $144.36.

Qualys Stock Performance

Qualys stock opened at $118.59 on Friday. Qualys has a twelve month low of $116.67 and a twelve month high of $174.20. The firm has a market cap of $4.33 billion, a PE ratio of 25.50 and a beta of 0.56. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $133.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $136.31.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.16). Qualys had a return on equity of 38.52% and a net margin of 28.59%. Equities analysts anticipate that Qualys will post 3.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.49, for a total transaction of $941,430.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 225,453 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,321,173.97. The trade was a 3.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 524 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.38, for a total value of $67,795.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 65,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,416,557.14. This trade represents a 0.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 26,595 shares of company stock valued at $3,691,922. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in QLYS. 111 Capital bought a new stake in shares of Qualys in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $299,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Qualys by 31.6% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,110 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $436,000 after acquiring an additional 746 shares during the period. Cim LLC raised its stake in Qualys by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Cim LLC now owns 8,463 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,187,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Qualys during the fourth quarter valued at $273,000. Finally, Formidable Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Qualys by 58.2% in the 4th quarter. Formidable Asset Management LLC now owns 8,068 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,131,000 after purchasing an additional 2,967 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

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.