IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Shares Up 3.5% - Still a Buy?

Shares of IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ - Get Free Report) were up 3.5% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $17.49 and last traded at $17.33. Approximately 12,933,115 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 87% from the average daily volume of 6,916,090 shares. The stock had previously closed at $16.74.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

IonQ Trading Up 0.7 %

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $8.52. The stock has a market cap of $3.61 billion, a P/E ratio of -21.35 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 firm had revenue of $11.38 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.66 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.16) EPS. The company's revenue was up 106.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at IonQ

In related news, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 9,159 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the executive now directly owns 648,783 shares of the company's stock, 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 have sold 43,125 shares of company stock valued at $566,300 over the last ninety days. 11.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Carnegie Investment Counsel purchased a new stake in IonQ during the 3rd quarter valued at $5,036,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in IonQ during the 3rd quarter valued at $152,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its stake in shares of IonQ by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 36,495 shares of the company's stock valued at $365,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL bought a new position in IonQ in the first quarter worth approximately $185,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in IonQ by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,906,731 shares of the company's stock valued at $221,864,000 after purchasing an additional 193,924 shares in the last quarter. 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.