IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Trading Up 7% – Still a Buy?

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ)’s share price shot up 7% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $47.49 and last traded at $46.12. 14,337,494 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 19% from the average session volume of 17,619,309 shares. The stock had previously closed at $43.10.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on IONQ. DA Davidson began coverage on shares of IonQ in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. Craig Hallum boosted their price target on IonQ from $22.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Benchmark upped their target price on shares of IonQ from $12.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of IonQ from $13.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, IonQ has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $28.60.

IonQ Trading Up 8.9 %

The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $31.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $16.24. The firm has a market cap of $10.16 billion, a PE ratio of -57.96 and a beta of 2.49.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.24) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $12.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.56 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.22) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 102.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other IonQ news, CEO Peter Hume Chapman sold 13,106 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.73, for a total transaction of $389,641.38. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 414,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,319,011.99. The trade was a 3.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 9,875 shares of IonQ stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.72, for a total transaction of $115,735.00. Following the sale, the executive now owns 638,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,488,001.76. The trade was a 1.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 110,223 shares of company stock valued at $2,286,983. 11.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IonQ

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of IonQ by 1,348.5% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 956 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 890 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of IonQ by 4,824.2% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 6,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 6,368 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of IonQ by 73.2% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,136 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of IonQ in the second quarter worth $67,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in IonQ during the 3rd quarter worth $72,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.