Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on IonQ (NYSE:IONQ)

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders acquired 42,889 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 61% compared to the typical daily volume of 26,560 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other IonQ news, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 9,875 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.72, for a total transaction of $115,735.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now directly owns 638,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,488,001.76. The trade was a 1.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 66,000 shares of company stock worth $972,331. Insiders own 11.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On IonQ

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of IONQ. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in IonQ by 4.0% during the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 36,495 shares of the company’s stock valued at $365,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in shares of IonQ by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 49,550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $348,000 after buying an additional 1,731 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in IonQ by 10.5% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 29,427 shares of the company’s stock worth $294,000 after acquiring an additional 2,805 shares during the last quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in IonQ by 12.4% in the 3rd quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc. now owns 33,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $296,000 after acquiring an additional 3,736 shares during the period. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC raised its stake in IonQ by 29.3% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 18,938 shares of the company’s stock valued at $166,000 after acquiring an additional 4,288 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 41.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on IONQ shares. Craig Hallum upped their price target on IonQ from $15.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of IonQ from $13.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of IonQ from $11.50 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Benchmark boosted their price target on shares of IonQ from $12.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th.

IonQ Stock Up 11.4 %

Shares of IonQ stock opened at $29.14 on Friday. IonQ has a 1 year low of $6.22 and a 1 year high of $29.48. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $13.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.61.

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

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.