IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Trading Up 5.1% – What’s Next?

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ)’s share price was up 5.1% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $73.76 and last traded at $73.17. Approximately 37,459,927 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 60% from the average daily volume of 23,480,838 shares. The stock had previously closed at $69.60.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on IonQ from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 15th. Benchmark lifted their price objective on IonQ from $55.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of IonQ in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on IonQ from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 15th. Finally, DA Davidson lowered IonQ from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $58.33.

IonQ Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $21.72 billion, a PE ratio of -36.40 and a beta of 2.60. The business has a 50-day moving average of $49.39 and a 200 day moving average of $39.77.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.70) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.13) by ($0.57). IonQ had a negative return on equity of 67.11% and a negative net margin of 885.21%.The firm had revenue of $20.69 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.23 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.18) earnings per share. IonQ’s quarterly revenue was up 81.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at IonQ

In other IonQ news, CEO Masi Niccolo De sold 16,120 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.40, for a total transaction of $715,728.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,181,186 shares in the company, valued at $52,444,658.40. This represents a 1.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Robert T. Cardillo sold 8,773 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.52, for a total value of $443,211.96. Following the sale, the insider owned 37,436 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,891,266.72. This trade represents a 18.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 279,047 shares of company stock valued at $12,602,891. Corporate insiders own 5.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On IonQ

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Archer Investment Corp raised its holdings in shares of IonQ by 119.3% in the second quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 592 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 322 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of IonQ by 348.0% in the first quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 1,120 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 870 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of IonQ by 780.1% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,461 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 1,295 shares during the period. Close Asset Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of IonQ in the first quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of IonQ in the first quarter worth approximately $35,000. 41.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.