Truist Financial Lowers Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Price Target to $165.00

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) had its price target cut by equities researchers at Truist Financial from $175.00 to $165.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “hold” rating on the software maker’s stock. Truist Financial’s target price points to a potential upside of 8.15% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Qualys in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $170.00 target price on the stock. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Qualys from $175.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Wedbush lowered their price objective on shares of Qualys from $230.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Qualys in a research report on Friday, April 26th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $172.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Qualys from $146.00 to $152.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $157.79.

Qualys Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ QLYS traded down $13.42 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $152.56. 279,140 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 453,131. Qualys has a 12-month low of $113.00 and a 12-month high of $206.35. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $166.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.05. The firm has a market cap of $5.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.92 and a beta of 0.51.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The software maker reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $144.57 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $144.69 million. Qualys had a net margin of 27.34% and a return on equity of 49.06%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Qualys will post 3.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Qualys

In other Qualys news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 723 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.76, for a total transaction of $119,121.48. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 100,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,523,615.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,443 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.33, for a total transaction of $241,457.19. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 62,614 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,477,200.62. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 723 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.76, for a total value of $119,121.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 100,289 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,523,615.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 13,662 shares of company stock valued at $2,263,965. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Qualys by 121.9% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 360,294 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $70,719,000 after acquiring an additional 197,911 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in Qualys by 50.9% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 501,847 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $83,743,000 after purchasing an additional 169,293 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its position in Qualys by 172.3% during the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 193,056 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $37,893,000 after purchasing an additional 122,168 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Qualys by 201,932.8% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 117,179 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $23,000,000 after purchasing an additional 117,121 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in Qualys during the 4th quarter valued at about $18,844,000. 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.