IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Trading Up 8.1% – What’s Next?

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) shares were up 8.1% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $27.56 and last traded at $27.28. 12,795,838 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 49% from the average daily volume of 8,607,291 shares. The stock had previously closed at $25.23.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

IonQ Price Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average price of $14.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $10.00.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.24) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $12.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.56 million. IonQ had a negative net margin of 457.85% and a negative return on equity of 36.82%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 102.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.22) earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at IonQ

In other IonQ news, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 9,159 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.72, for a total value of $98,184.48. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now directly owns 648,783 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,954,953.76. This trade represents a 1.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders sold a total of 66,000 shares of company stock valued at $972,331 over the last ninety days. 11.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of IonQ

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in IonQ by 5.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,824,996 shares of the company’s stock valued at $188,062,000 after acquiring an additional 918,265 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in IonQ by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,420,152 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,640,000 after purchasing an additional 199,360 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of IonQ by 1.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,260,880 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,240,000 after purchasing an additional 75,596 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in IonQ by 27.3% during the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 2,654,531 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,661,000 after buying an additional 569,906 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in IonQ by 9.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,614,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,107,000 after buying an additional 135,851 shares in 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.