Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ:RGTI) Trading 4.9% Higher – Still a Buy?

Rigetti Computing, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGTI)’s share price rose 4.9% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $16.56 and last traded at $16.53. 15,874,336 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 48% from the average daily volume of 30,556,818 shares. The stock had previously closed at $15.76.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on RGTI shares. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Rigetti Computing from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Rigetti Computing in a report on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Rigetti Computing from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $18.00 target price on shares of Rigetti Computing in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Benchmark started coverage on shares of Rigetti Computing in a report on Monday, July 27th. They set a “buy” rating and a $25.00 target price on the stock. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Rigetti Computing currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.67.

Rigetti Computing Price Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average of $15.93 and a 200 day moving average of $17.56. The company has a market cap of $5.52 billion, a P/E ratio of -18.37 and a beta of 2.00.

Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ:RGTI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.05) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $5.14 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.09 million. Rigetti Computing had a negative net margin of 2,189.54% and a negative return on equity of 17.50%. Sell-side analysts predict that Rigetti Computing, Inc. will post -0.27 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Rigetti Computing news, CTO Andrew Bestwick sold 5,791 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.81, for a total transaction of $97,346.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,036,121 shares in the company, valued at $17,417,194.01. The trade was a 0.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, COO David Rivas sold 9,038 shares of Rigetti Computing stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.79, for a total value of $151,748.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 316,907 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,320,868.53. The trade was a 2.77% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 163,689 shares of company stock valued at $2,570,890. 1.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Rigetti Computing

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Rigetti Computing by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,879,325 shares of the company’s stock worth $174,930,000 after buying an additional 196,891 shares during the last quarter. Clear Street Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Rigetti Computing by 71.1% during the 4th quarter. Clear Street Group Inc. now owns 2,743,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,761,000 after acquiring an additional 1,140,183 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Rigetti Computing during the 4th quarter worth $38,889,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Rigetti Computing by 15.5% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,297,462 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,216,000 after acquiring an additional 174,126 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP acquired a new position in Rigetti Computing in the 4th quarter worth about $20,727,000. Institutional investors own 35.38% of the company’s stock.

Rigetti Computing Company Profile

Rigetti Computing, Inc is a quantum computing company that develops full-stack quantum computing systems based on superconducting qubit technology. The company designs and manufactures quantum processors, develops the software needed to program and operate them, and provides access to its systems through cloud-based services.

Rigetti’s offerings include its quantum processing units and integrated quantum computing systems, as well as the Rigetti Quantum Cloud Services platform. Through cloud access and partnerships, organizations can experiment with quantum algorithms and explore potential applications in areas such as optimization, simulation, machine learning and other computationally intensive fields.