Jefferies Financial Group Lowers Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Price Target to $130.00

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) had its price target reduced by equities researchers at Jefferies Financial Group from $145.00 to $130.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “hold” rating on the software maker’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 1.03% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on QLYS. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Qualys from $162.00 to $135.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Qualys from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Loop Capital lowered their price target on shares of Qualys from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Qualys in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $120.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Two 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 MarketBeat, Qualys has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $144.36.

Qualys Price Performance

Shares of QLYS opened at $128.67 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.67 and a beta of 0.56. Qualys has a 1 year low of $119.17 and a 1 year high of $174.20. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $134.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $136.51.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.16). Qualys had a net margin of 28.59% and a return on equity of 38.52%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Qualys will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Qualys news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.49, for a total value of $941,430.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 225,453 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,321,173.97. This trade represents a 3.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 524 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.38, for a total transaction of $67,795.12. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 65,053 shares in the company, valued at $8,416,557.14. This trade represents a 0.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 26,595 shares of company stock worth $3,691,922 in the last ninety days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qualys

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Qualys in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Qualys in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its holdings in Qualys by 88.1% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 333 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 156 shares during the period. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Qualys during the 4th quarter worth approximately $54,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in Qualys by 33.9% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 391 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

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.