IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Stock Price Up 5.1% – Still a Buy?

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ)’s stock price traded up 5.1% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $32.37 and last traded at $32.21. 24,277,856 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 163% from the average session volume of 9,235,802 shares. The stock had previously closed at $30.65.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on IONQ. Craig Hallum raised their price target on shares of IonQ from $15.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on IonQ from $11.50 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Benchmark raised their price objective on IonQ from $12.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of IonQ from $13.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th.

IonQ Price Performance

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.79. The company has a market capitalization of $6.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -39.76 and a beta of 1.89.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 9,875 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.72, for a total value of $115,735.00. Following the sale, the executive now directly owns 638,908 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,488,001.76. This trade represents a 1.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 66,000 shares of company stock valued at $972,331. 11.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of IonQ

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quest Partners LLC grew its holdings in IonQ by 4,824.2% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 6,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 6,368 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in IonQ in the third quarter valued at $72,000. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in IonQ during the 2nd quarter worth about $67,000. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in IonQ during the 3rd quarter worth about $89,000. Finally, Arete Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of IonQ in the 3rd quarter valued at about $91,000. 41.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.