Qualys’ (QLYS) “Hold” Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed their hold rating on shares of Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) in a research report sent to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on QLYS. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Qualys from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Qualys from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Qualys from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Loop Capital decreased their price objective on shares of Qualys from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price objective on shares of Qualys from $170.00 to $163.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $146.57.

Qualys Trading Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ:QLYS opened at $138.05 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $5.05 billion, a PE ratio of 29.69 and a beta of 0.56. Qualys has a twelve month low of $119.17 and a twelve month high of $174.31. The company’s 50 day moving average is $141.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $135.43.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Qualys news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 8,555 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.62, for a total transaction of $1,322,774.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 64,032 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,900,627.84. This represents a 11.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jeffrey P. Hank sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.31, for a total transaction of $585,240.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 12,666 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,853,162.46. This represents a 24.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 28,746 shares of company stock worth $4,158,713. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qualys

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Huntington National Bank raised its position in Qualys by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 932 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $131,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Qualys by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,262,931 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $178,445,000 after buying an additional 16,369 shares in the last quarter. National Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Qualys during the fourth quarter worth $206,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Qualys by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 40,348 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $5,658,000 after buying an additional 745 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Qualys by 32.5% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 51,934 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $7,282,000 after buying an additional 12,741 shares in the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is currently 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.