IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Trading Up 2.5% – Still a Buy?

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ)’s stock price was up 2.5% on Friday . The company traded as high as $16.37 and last traded at $16.11. Approximately 8,220,363 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 25% from the average daily volume of 6,563,112 shares. The stock had previously closed at $15.71.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on IONQ. Craig Hallum cut their price objective on IonQ from $21.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Benchmark cut their price target on shares of IonQ from $16.00 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $13.00 price target on shares of IonQ in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of IonQ from $11.50 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, IonQ currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $12.00.

IonQ Trading Up 6.7 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $3.54 billion, a PE ratio of -19.93 and a beta of 2.05. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $8.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $8.27.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.18) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by $0.04. The company had revenue of $11.38 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.66 million. IonQ had a negative return on equity of 34.02% and a negative net margin of 525.13%. The business’s revenue was up 106.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.16) EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.84 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at IonQ

In other news, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 11,375 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.72, for a total transaction of $156,065.00. Following the transaction, the executive now owns 627,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,609,752.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold 31,125 shares of company stock worth $377,660 over the last ninety days. 11.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On IonQ

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IONQ. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of IonQ by 5.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,824,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $188,062,000 after buying an additional 918,265 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in IonQ by 27.3% during the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 2,654,531 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,661,000 after acquiring an additional 569,906 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of IonQ by 16.7% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 916,536 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,443,000 after purchasing an additional 131,439 shares during the period. Carnegie Investment Counsel acquired a new position in shares of IonQ during the 3rd quarter worth about $5,036,000. Finally, Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in IonQ by 126.7% during the 1st quarter. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. now owns 357,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,566,000 after purchasing an additional 199,500 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 41.42% of the company’s stock.

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.