IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Shares Up 6.6% - Should You Buy?

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ - Get Free Report)'s share price traded up 6.6% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $13.80 and last traded at $13.32. 9,336,488 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 53% from the average session volume of 6,107,747 shares. The stock had previously closed at $12.50.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of IonQ from $11.50 to $8.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $13.00 price objective on shares of IonQ in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Craig Hallum reduced their price objective on shares of IonQ from $21.00 to $15.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Benchmark reduced their price objective on shares of IonQ from $16.00 to $12.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $12.00.

IonQ Price Performance

The company's fifty day simple moving average is $8.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $8.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.81 billion, a PE ratio of -15.45 and a beta of 2.05.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 525.13% and a negative return on equity of 34.02%. The business had revenue of $11.38 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.66 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.16) earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 106.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at IonQ

In related news, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 9,159 shares of the company'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 transaction, the executive now directly owns 648,783 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,954,953.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 11.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IonQ

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in IonQ by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,906,731 shares of the company's stock worth $221,864,000 after purchasing an additional 193,924 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in IonQ by 283.1% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 112,175 shares of the company's stock worth $1,121,000 after purchasing an additional 82,891 shares during the period. StoneX Group Inc. acquired a new stake in IonQ during the 1st quarter worth about $420,000. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. grew its position in IonQ by 126.7% during the 1st quarter. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. now owns 357,000 shares of the company's stock worth $3,566,000 after purchasing an additional 199,500 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in IonQ by 1,598.7% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 2,084,625 shares of the company's stock worth $20,825,000 after purchasing an additional 1,961,909 shares during the period. 41.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About IonQ

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.