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

Shares of IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $26.76, but opened at $27.90. IonQ shares last traded at $25.40, with a volume of 7,984,193 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on IONQ shares. The Goldman Sachs Group cut 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. Craig Hallum raised their price objective on IonQ from $15.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on IonQ from $13.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Benchmark lifted their price target on shares of IonQ from $12.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th.

IonQ Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average is $13.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.24 billion, a PE ratio of -35.98 and a beta of 1.89.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.24) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by ($0.02). IonQ had a negative net margin of 457.85% and a negative return on equity of 36.82%. The firm had revenue of $12.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.56 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.22) EPS. The business’s revenue was up 102.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at IonQ

In related news, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 22,875 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.75, for a total value of $406,031.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now owns 592,658 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,519,679.50. This trade represents a 3.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 66,000 shares of company stock valued at $972,331. Corporate insiders own 11.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of IonQ

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in IonQ by 4,824.2% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 6,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 6,368 shares during the last quarter. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in IonQ in the second quarter worth approximately $67,000. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in IonQ during the third quarter worth $72,000. Mosley Wealth Management purchased a new stake in IonQ in the second quarter valued at $81,000. Finally, Xponance Inc. purchased a new stake in IonQ in the second quarter valued at $88,000. 41.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.