IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Shares Up 7.8% – Here’s Why

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) shot up 7.8% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $16.14 and last traded at $15.89. 8,641,858 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 33% from the average session volume of 6,489,802 shares. The stock had previously closed at $14.74.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IONQ has been the subject of a number of research reports. Craig Hallum cut their price objective on IonQ from $21.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on IonQ from $11.50 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $13.00 price target on shares of IonQ in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Benchmark cut their price target on shares of IonQ from $16.00 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $12.00.

IonQ Trading Up 4.3 %

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $8.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $8.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.25 billion, a PE ratio of -18.11 and a beta of 2.05.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.18) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by $0.04. IonQ had a negative return on equity of 34.02% and a negative net margin of 525.13%. The company had revenue of $11.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.66 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.16) EPS. IonQ’s quarterly revenue was up 106.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at IonQ

In other IonQ news, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 11,375 shares of IonQ stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.72, for a total transaction of $156,065.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now directly owns 627,533 shares in the company, valued at $8,609,752.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 31,125 shares of company stock worth $377,660 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its stake in shares of IonQ by 4.0% during the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 36,495 shares of the company’s stock worth $365,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of IonQ by 3.6% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 49,550 shares of the company’s stock worth $348,000 after purchasing an additional 1,731 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of IonQ by 10.5% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 29,427 shares of the company’s stock worth $294,000 after purchasing an additional 2,805 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of IonQ by 4,824.2% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 6,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 6,368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of IonQ by 40.6% in the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 26,801 shares of the company’s stock worth $188,000 after buying an additional 7,744 shares during the period. 41.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.