Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of IonQ Call Options (NYSE:IONQ)

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock investors bought 68,802 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 63% compared to the typical daily volume of 42,278 call options.

IonQ Stock Performance

IONQ stock traded up $7.47 during trading on Monday, hitting $41.30. The stock had a trading volume of 28,091,238 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,995,513. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $22.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $12.91. IonQ has a 1-year low of $6.22 and a 1-year high of $41.50. The stock has a market cap of $8.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -44.80 and a beta of 2.49.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $12.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.56 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.22) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 102.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that IonQ will post -0.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on IONQ shares. Craig Hallum raised their target price on IonQ from $15.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of IonQ from $13.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Benchmark raised their target price on shares of IonQ from $12.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Peter Hume Chapman sold 13,106 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.73, for a total value of $389,641.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 414,363 shares in the company, valued at $12,319,011.99. This trade represents a 3.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 9,159 shares of IonQ stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.72, for a total value of $98,184.48. Following the transaction, the executive now owns 648,783 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,954,953.76. This represents a 1.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 110,223 shares of company stock worth $2,286,983 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of IonQ

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Quest Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of IonQ in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $67,000. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of IonQ during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $72,000. Mosley Wealth Management bought a new position in IonQ during the second quarter worth $81,000. Finally, Xponance Inc. acquired a new position in IonQ in the second quarter worth $88,000. Hedge funds and other 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.