IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Shares Up 8.4% – Time to Buy?

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ)’s stock price rose 8.4% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $52.74 and last traded at $52.53. Approximately 22,239,603 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 13% from the average daily volume of 25,642,016 shares. The stock had previously closed at $48.44.

Analyst Ratings Changes

IONQ has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley set a $48.50 price objective on IonQ in a report on Thursday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on IonQ from $42.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of IonQ in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of IonQ in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on IonQ from $80.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, IonQ has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.63.

IonQ Stock Up 8.4%

The stock has a market capitalization of $19.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -187.61 and a beta of 3.05. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.21.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported ($0.34) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.26) by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $64.67 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.75 million. IonQ had a negative return on equity of 23.20% and a net margin of 174.88%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 754.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.14) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that IonQ, Inc. will post -2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other IonQ news, insider Robert T. Cardillo sold 5,165 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.44, for a total transaction of $203,707.60. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 112,291 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,428,757.04. This represents a 4.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director William J. Teuber, Jr. bought 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $38.38 per share, for a total transaction of $115,140.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 9,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $361,270.94. The trade was a 46.78% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 12,354 shares of company stock valued at $504,428 over the last three months. 5.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On IonQ

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of IonQ by 18.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,774,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,560,343,000 after purchasing an additional 5,420,037 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of IonQ by 42.3% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,962,789 shares of the company’s stock valued at $402,160,000 after purchasing an additional 2,663,230 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of IonQ by 21.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,074,301 shares of the company’s stock valued at $361,624,000 after purchasing an additional 1,452,463 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of IonQ in the fourth quarter valued at about $199,753,000. Finally, Marex Group plc grew its position in shares of IonQ by 419.1% in the fourth quarter. Marex Group plc now owns 4,083,453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $183,225,000 after purchasing an additional 3,296,866 shares during the last quarter. 41.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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. It also provides contracts associated with the design, development, and construction of specialized quantum computing hardware systems; maintenance and support services; and consulting services related to co-developing algorithms on quantum computing systems.