IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Stock Price Up 3.2% – Still a Buy?

Shares of IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) rose 3.2% on Monday . The company traded as high as $51.44 and last traded at $49.29. Approximately 11,482,997 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 43% from the average daily volume of 20,264,691 shares. The stock had previously closed at $47.77.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

IONQ has been the subject of several analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on shares of IonQ from $13.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Benchmark increased their price objective on shares of IonQ from $12.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. DA Davidson started coverage on shares of IonQ in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Craig Hallum upped their target price on shares of IonQ from $22.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. One research 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 $28.60.

IonQ Price Performance

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $31.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $16.65. The stock has a market cap of $10.90 billion, a P/E ratio of -62.20 and a beta of 2.43.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at IonQ

In other IonQ news, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 21,337 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 $634,349.01. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now owns 571,321 shares in the company, valued at $16,985,373.33. This trade represents a 3.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Peter Hume Chapman sold 13,106 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 414,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,319,011.99. This trade represents a 3.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 110,223 shares of company stock worth $2,286,983 in the last quarter. 11.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On IonQ

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of IONQ. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in IonQ by 1,348.5% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 956 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 890 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in IonQ by 73.2% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,136 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 480 shares during the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of IonQ in the fourth quarter valued at $216,000. Quest Partners LLC lifted its holdings 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 worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 6,368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of IonQ during the 3rd quarter worth about $72,000. 41.42% of the stock is 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.