Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ:RGTI) Trading 1.7% Higher – Still a Buy?

Rigetti Computing, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGTI)’s share price traded up 1.7% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $21.95 and last traded at $20.98. 34,476,085 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 4% from the average session volume of 36,008,348 shares. The stock had previously closed at $20.63.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $31.00 target price on shares of Rigetti Computing in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Northland Securities assumed coverage on shares of Rigetti Computing in a report on Monday, April 20th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $20.00 target price for the company. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Rigetti Computing from $33.00 to $27.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Rigetti Computing from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Rigetti Computing in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Rigetti Computing has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $29.18.

Rigetti Computing Price Performance

The business’s 50-day moving average price is $19.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $20.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -24.11 and a beta of 1.88.

Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ:RGTI) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.05) by $0.01. Rigetti Computing had a negative net margin of 2,789.71% and a negative return on equity of 10.40%. The business had revenue of $4.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.09 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.05) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 198.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Rigetti Computing, Inc. will post -0.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Rigetti Computing

In other news, CFO Jeffrey A. Bertelsen sold 3,682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.95, for a total transaction of $84,501.90. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 171,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,945,724.65. The trade was a 2.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CTO David Rivas sold 499,328 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.40, for a total transaction of $12,682,931.20. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 325,945 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,279,003. The trade was a 60.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 643,957 shares of company stock valued at $15,800,744. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Rigetti Computing

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in RGTI. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in shares of Rigetti Computing by 106.2% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 220,701 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,748,000 after buying an additional 113,644 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Rigetti Computing by 138.9% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 81,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $642,000 after buying an additional 47,115 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Rigetti Computing by 25.4% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 112,409 shares of the company’s stock worth $890,000 after buying an additional 22,770 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Rigetti Computing by 197.8% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 25,592 shares of the company’s stock worth $203,000 after buying an additional 16,998 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC bought a new stake in shares of Rigetti Computing in the first quarter worth $3,115,000. Institutional investors own 35.38% of the company’s stock.

About Rigetti Computing

Rigetti Computing is a pioneering quantum computing company that designs and manufactures superconducting quantum processors alongside a complementary software stack. Founded in 2013 by CEO Chad Rigetti, the company has developed end-to-end quantum systems—from cryogenic hardware to control electronics—to advance the performance and scalability of quantum machines.

At the core of Rigetti’s offering is its Quantum Cloud Services (QCS) platform, which enables developers and enterprises to access quantum processing units (QPUs) and hybrid quantum-classical workflows via the cloud.