IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Trading Up 0.1% – Still a Buy?

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ)’s share price rose 0.1% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $39.38 and last traded at $39.53. Approximately 6,614,188 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 35,000,855 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.49.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IONQ has been the subject of several research reports. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on shares of IonQ from $13.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. DA Davidson initiated coverage on IonQ in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price target for the company. Craig Hallum upped their target price on IonQ from $22.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of IonQ from $16.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Benchmark upped their price target on shares of IonQ from $12.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, IonQ has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $33.00.

IonQ Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $9.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -52.24 and a beta of 2.41. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $38.81 and its 200-day moving average is $21.53.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.24) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.22) by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $12.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.56 million. IonQ had a negative net margin of 457.85% and a negative return on equity of 36.82%. IonQ’s revenue was up 102.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.22) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at IonQ

In other IonQ news, CEO Peter Hume Chapman sold 13,106 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.73, for a total transaction of $389,641.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 414,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,319,011.99. The trade was a 3.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Thomas G. Kramer sold 9,780 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.72, for a total value of $290,661.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 926,114 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,524,108.08. This trade represents a 1.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 44,223 shares of company stock valued at $1,314,652. Company insiders own 11.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in shares of IonQ by 15.2% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,753 shares of the company’s stock worth $116,000 after buying an additional 363 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in IonQ by 73.2% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,136 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 480 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in IonQ by 421.0% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 501 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in IonQ in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management lifted its stake in IonQ by 406.3% in the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 962 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 772 shares in the last quarter. 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.