TD Cowen Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Stock

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) had its price objective lifted by TD Cowen from $130.00 to $150.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a hold rating on the software maker's stock.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Qualys from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 3rd. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Qualys from $170.00 to $140.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Qualys from $180.00 to $150.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Qualys in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. They set a "hold" rating and a $135.00 price target on the stock. Finally, DA Davidson raised shares of Qualys from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Qualys currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $152.80.

Qualys Stock Up 24.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:QLYS traded up $31.00 on Wednesday, hitting $159.23. The company had a trading volume of 2,996,969 shares, compared to its average volume of 441,907. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $124.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $136.16. Qualys has a 1 year low of $119.17 and a 1 year high of $206.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.12 and a beta of 0.47.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.20. Qualys had a net margin of 29.36% and a return on equity of 44.80%. The company had revenue of $148.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $148.80 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.95 EPS. Qualys's revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Qualys will post 3.94 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Qualys news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total transaction of $876,470.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 179,649 shares of the company's stock, valued at $22,493,851.29. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Qualys news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total transaction of $876,470.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 179,649 shares of the company's stock, valued at $22,493,851.29. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 616 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.54, for a total transaction of $76,100.64. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 86,576 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,695,599.04. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 10,919 shares of company stock valued at $1,360,140 in the last three months. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Qualys

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its position in Qualys by 36.6% in the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 20,576 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $3,374,000 after buying an additional 5,508 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Qualys by 2,459.9% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 43,135 shares of the software maker's stock worth $6,151,000 after buying an additional 41,450 shares during the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund acquired a new position in shares of Qualys during the 1st quarter worth $1,139,000. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co raised its stake in shares of Qualys by 13.5% during the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 108,304 shares of the software maker's stock worth $18,048,000 after buying an additional 12,915 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Qualys by 57.7% during the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 13,672 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,950,000 after buying an additional 5,004 shares during 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.