IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Trading 2.6% Higher – Should You Buy?

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) shares rose 2.6% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $59.47 and last traded at $58.1230. Approximately 24,961,631 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 7% from the average daily volume of 26,749,063 shares. The stock had previously closed at $56.63.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on IONQ shares. DA Davidson reduced their target price on IonQ from $55.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley set a $48.50 price objective on IonQ in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings upgraded IonQ from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Wall Street Zen raised IonQ from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on IonQ from $42.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.63.

IonQ Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $21.70 billion, a PE ratio of -207.58 and a beta of 3.18. The company’s fifty day moving average is $49.02 and its 200-day moving average is $44.43.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported ($0.34) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.26) by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $64.67 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.75 million. IonQ had a net margin of 174.88% and a negative return on equity of 23.20%. IonQ’s revenue for the quarter was up 754.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.14) earnings per share. Analysts expect that IonQ, Inc. will post -2.26 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Robert T. Cardillo sold 3,773 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.90, for a total transaction of $188,272.70. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 139,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,984,353.30. This trade represents a 2.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 5.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On IonQ

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Clear Street Group Inc. acquired a new stake in IonQ during the third quarter valued at $61,488,000. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in IonQ in the fourth quarter valued at $2,708,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of IonQ in the fourth quarter worth about $3,271,000. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of IonQ by 30.3% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 62,184 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,790,000 after acquiring an additional 14,465 shares during the period. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden purchased a new stake in shares of IonQ during the 4th quarter worth about $5,488,000. Hedge funds and other 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. It also provides contracts associated with the design, development, and construction of specialized quantum computing hardware systems; maintenance and support services; and consulting services related to co-developing algorithms on quantum computing systems.