IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Trading 0.6% Higher – Should You Buy?

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ)’s share price rose 0.6% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $42.40 and last traded at $37.72. Approximately 14,803,508 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 44% from the average daily volume of 10,271,984 shares. The stock had previously closed at $37.50.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on IonQ from $13.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Benchmark lifted their target price on IonQ from $12.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Craig Hallum upped their price target on IonQ from $15.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, DA Davidson began coverage on shares of IonQ in a report on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $24.00.

IonQ Stock Down 1.1 %

The company has a market capitalization of $8.02 billion, a P/E ratio of -45.78 and a beta of 2.49. The business has a 50 day moving average of $24.51 and a 200 day moving average of $13.57.

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). 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.56 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.22) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 102.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at IonQ

In other IonQ news, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 22,875 shares of IonQ stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.75, for a total transaction of $406,031.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now directly owns 592,658 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,519,679.50. The trade was a 3.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Peter Hume Chapman sold 13,106 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were 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. This represents a 3.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 110,223 shares of company stock worth $2,286,983 in the last three months. Insiders own 11.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IonQ

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Carnegie Investment Counsel bought a new stake in IonQ in the third quarter worth about $5,036,000. Yong Rong HK Asset Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of IonQ in the third quarter worth approximately $3,749,000. Main Management ETF Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of IonQ during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,865,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in IonQ by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,420,152 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,640,000 after acquiring an additional 199,360 shares during the period. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in IonQ in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,631,000. 41.42% of the stock is currently owned by 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.