Canaccord Genuity Group Has Lowered Expectations for Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Stock Price

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) had its target price lowered by Canaccord Genuity Group from $170.00 to $163.00 in a report issued on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the software maker’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the company. Westpark Capital reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC initiated coverage on shares of Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Qualys from $150.00 to $162.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Qualys from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $149.25.

Qualys Stock Down 3.7 %

NASDAQ:QLYS opened at $135.57 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.15 and a beta of 0.56. Qualys has a twelve month low of $119.17 and a twelve month high of $174.73. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $143.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $135.70.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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, analysts anticipate that Qualys will post 4.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Qualys

In other Qualys news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 882 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.66, for a total value of $123,180.12. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 62,295 shares in the company, valued at $8,700,119.70. The trade was a 1.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.66, for a total transaction of $1,047,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 225,453 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,741,295.98. This trade represents a 3.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 31,259 shares of company stock valued at $4,578,153 over the last three months. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qualys

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Qualys by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 5,749 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $806,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Qualys in the 4th quarter worth about $4,310,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in Qualys by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 5,139 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $721,000 after purchasing an additional 473 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Qualys during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,775,000. Finally, Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Qualys during the fourth quarter worth about $1,640,000. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Qualys Company Profile

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.