Qualys’ (QLYS) Market Perform Rating Reaffirmed at Northland Securities

Northland Securities reissued their market perform rating on shares of Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $146.00 price target on the software maker’s stock, down from their prior price target of $150.00.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC began coverage on Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. StockNews.com upgraded Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Qualys from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on Qualys from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Qualys presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $146.57.

Qualys Trading Up 0.5 %

Qualys stock opened at $138.05 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $5.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.69 and a beta of 0.56. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $141.87 and a 200-day moving average of $135.43. Qualys has a 52 week low of $119.17 and a 52 week high of $174.31.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.16). Qualys had a net margin of 28.59% and a return on equity of 39.64%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Qualys will post 4.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 225,453 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,321,173.97. This trade represents a 3.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Jeffrey P. Hank sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.31, for a total value of $585,240.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 12,666 shares in the company, valued at $1,853,162.46. This trade represents a 24.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 28,746 shares of company stock valued at $4,158,713 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of QLYS. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Qualys during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Qualys during the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in Qualys by 80.8% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 432 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in Qualys by 33.9% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 391 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP grew its holdings in Qualys by 56.2% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 439 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares during the period. 99.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.