IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Trading Up 26.3% – Still a Buy?

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ)’s share price traded up 26.3% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $38.38 and last traded at $37.28. 36,637,886 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 23% from the average session volume of 47,616,500 shares. The stock had previously closed at $29.51.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Craig Hallum boosted their price objective on IonQ from $22.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Benchmark boosted their price objective on IonQ from $12.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on IonQ from $16.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. DA Davidson assumed coverage on IonQ in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on IonQ from $13.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, IonQ presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $33.00.

IonQ Stock Up 31.0 %

The company has a market cap of $8.37 billion, a P/E ratio of -47.73 and a beta of 2.43. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $34.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $18.09.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last released its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $12.40 million for 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 earned ($0.22) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at IonQ

In other news, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 21,337 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.73, for a total transaction of $634,349.01. Following the sale, the executive now owns 571,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,985,373.33. This trade represents a 3.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Peter Hume Chapman sold 13,106 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.73, for a total value of $389,641.38. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 414,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,319,011.99. This represents a 3.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 90,473 shares of company stock valued at $2,065,388. 11.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On IonQ

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of IonQ by 9.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,614,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,107,000 after buying an additional 135,851 shares in the last quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel bought a new position in shares of IonQ during the third quarter worth about $5,036,000. Yong Rong HK Asset Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of IonQ during the third quarter worth about $3,749,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of IonQ by 34.2% during the third quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 437,596 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,825,000 after buying an additional 111,435 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of IonQ during the third quarter worth about $1,631,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.42% of the company’s stock.

IonQ Company Profile

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.