Stock Traders Buy High Volume of IonQ Call Options (NYSE:IONQ)

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock investors bought 20,801 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 11% compared to the typical volume of 18,819 call options.

Insider Activity

In related news, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 9,159 shares of IonQ 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 sale, the executive now directly owns 648,783 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,954,953.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold a total of 66,000 shares of company stock worth $972,331 in the last three months. Company insiders own 11.60% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IonQ

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of IonQ by 5.1% during the 1st 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 during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in IonQ by 27.3% during the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 2,654,531 shares of the company's stock worth $18,661,000 after purchasing an additional 569,906 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in IonQ by 16.7% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 916,536 shares of the company's stock worth $6,443,000 after acquiring an additional 131,439 shares during the last quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel bought a new stake in IonQ in the 3rd quarter valued at $5,036,000. Finally, Yong Rong HK Asset Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of IonQ during the third quarter worth approximately $3,749,000. 41.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

IonQ Price Performance

IONQ stock traded down $1.83 during trading on Thursday, reaching $15.05. 22,443,145 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,040,066. The business's 50 day moving average price is $9.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $8.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.22 billion, a PE ratio of -19.04 and a beta of 2.05. IonQ has a 52-week low of $6.22 and a 52-week high of $18.20.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.18) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by $0.04. IonQ had a negative return on equity of 34.02% and a negative net margin of 525.13%. The firm had revenue of $11.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.66 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.16) EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 106.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that IonQ will post -0.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Benchmark dropped their price objective on shares of IonQ from $16.00 to $12.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $13.00 target price on shares of IonQ in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on IonQ from $11.50 to $8.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Craig Hallum decreased their price objective on IonQ from $21.00 to $15.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th.

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.