IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – What’s Next?

Shares of IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) saw unusually-strong trading volume on Wednesday . Approximately 10,906,042 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 19% from the previous session’s volume of 9,156,572 shares.The stock last traded at $29.19 and had previously closed at $30.65.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Benchmark increased their target price on IonQ from $12.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on IonQ from $13.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Craig Hallum increased their price objective on IonQ from $15.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on IonQ from $11.50 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 9th.

IonQ Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $6.63 billion, a P/E ratio of -37.64 and a beta of 1.89. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $10.64.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.24) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by ($0.02). IonQ had a negative return on equity of 36.82% and a negative net margin of 457.85%. The company had revenue of $12.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.56 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.22) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 102.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at IonQ

In other news, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 9,159 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.72, for a total transaction of $98,184.48. Following the transaction, the executive now directly owns 648,783 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,954,953.76. This represents a 1.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 66,000 shares of company stock worth $972,331. Insiders own 11.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of IonQ by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,824,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $188,062,000 after buying an additional 918,265 shares during the last quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP bought a new position in IonQ in the 1st quarter worth about $226,000. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in IonQ by 234.3% in the first quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 41,375 shares of the company’s stock worth $413,000 after purchasing an additional 29,000 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in IonQ by 6.9% in the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 172,959 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,728,000 after purchasing an additional 11,150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC raised its stake in IonQ by 22.5% in the first quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 54,755 shares of the company’s stock valued at $547,000 after buying an additional 10,074 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.