Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.23 EPS

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) released its earnings results on Tuesday. The software maker reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.23, Briefing.com reports. Qualys had a net margin of 29.36% and a return on equity of 44.80%. The firm had revenue of $153.87 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $150.74 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.24 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year.

Qualys Stock Down 2.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ QLYS traded down $4.15 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $155.08. 967,130 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 444,380. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $124.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $136.32. Qualys has a 1-year low of $119.17 and a 1-year high of $206.35. The firm has a market cap of $5.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.07 and a beta of 0.47.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Qualys from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a research note on Wednesday. Needham & Company LLC assumed coverage on shares of Qualys in a research note on Wednesday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Wedbush cut their target price on shares of Qualys from $190.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of Qualys from $120.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $152.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,330 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.80, for a total transaction of $164,654.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 55,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,885,508.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Qualys news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 616 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.54, for a total value of $76,100.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,330 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.80, for a total value of $164,654.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 55,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,885,508.40. 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 over the last three months. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.