IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Trading 3.9% Higher – Here’s Why

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ)’s stock price rose 3.9% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $44.00 and last traded at $42.96. Approximately 8,993,624 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 42,269,492 shares. The stock had previously closed at $41.35.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

IONQ has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on shares of IonQ from $13.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Benchmark boosted their price objective on shares of IonQ from $12.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of IonQ from $16.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. DA Davidson initiated coverage on shares of IonQ in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price target for the company. Finally, Craig Hallum boosted their price target on shares of IonQ from $22.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, IonQ currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $33.00.

IonQ Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $9.03 billion, a PE ratio of -51.52 and a beta of 2.43. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.58.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.24) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.22) by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $12.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.56 million. IonQ had a negative return on equity of 36.82% and a negative net margin of 457.85%. The company’s revenue was up 102.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.22) earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at IonQ

In related news, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 22,875 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.75, for a total transaction of $406,031.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now directly owns 592,658 shares in the company, valued at $10,519,679.50. This represents a 3.72 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Thomas G. Kramer sold 9,780 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.72, for a total transaction of $290,661.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 926,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,524,108.08. This represents a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 67,098 shares of company stock worth $1,720,683. 11.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On IonQ

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IONQ. City State Bank bought a new position in IonQ in the 4th quarter worth $36,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in IonQ by 1,348.5% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 956 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 890 shares in the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management raised its holdings in IonQ by 406.3% in the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 962 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 772 shares in the last quarter. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC bought a new position in IonQ in the 4th quarter worth $42,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in IonQ by 73.2% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,136 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. 41.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About IonQ

IonQ, Inc engages in the development of general-purpose quantum computing systems in the United States. It sells access to quantum computers of various qubit capacities. The company makes access to its quantum computers through cloud platforms, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) Amazon Braket, Microsoft’s Azure Quantum, and Google’s Cloud Marketplace, as well as through its cloud service.