Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Stock

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) had its target price raised by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from $123.00 to $126.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “underweight” rating on the software maker’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target indicates a potential downside of 18.75% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on QLYS. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Qualys from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 3rd. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Qualys from $170.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. DA Davidson raised shares of Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Qualys from $180.00 to $150.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Qualys currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $152.80.

Qualys Stock Down 2.6 %

Shares of QLYS stock opened at $155.08 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $5.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.16 and a beta of 0.47. Qualys has a 52 week low of $119.17 and a 52 week high of $206.35. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $125.52 and a 200-day moving average of $136.45.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The software maker reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $153.87 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $150.74 million. Qualys had a net margin of 29.36% and a return on equity of 44.80%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.24 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Qualys will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Qualys

In other news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,339 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.56, for a total transaction of $165,446.84. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 55,279 shares in the company, valued at $6,830,273.24. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,339 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.56, for a total value of $165,446.84. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 55,279 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,830,273.24. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total value of $876,470.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 179,649 shares in the company, valued at $22,493,851.29. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,919 shares of company stock worth $1,360,140 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qualys

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in QLYS. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in Qualys by 100.7% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 367,470 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $52,401,000 after acquiring an additional 184,403 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Qualys by 169.7% during the 1st quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 245,522 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $40,970,000 after buying an additional 154,492 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Qualys by 95.7% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 286,005 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $40,771,000 after buying an additional 139,897 shares in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp grew its holdings in Qualys by 14.5% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 926,093 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $118,966,000 after buying an additional 117,079 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Qualys by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,839,801 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $640,748,000 after buying an additional 83,504 shares in the last quarter. 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.