IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Stock Price Up 6.5% – Should You Buy?

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ)’s stock price shot up 6.5% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $16.13 and last traded at $15.98. 12,611,358 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 98% from the average session volume of 6,383,259 shares. The stock had previously closed at $15.01.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

IONQ has been the subject of several research reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $13.00 price objective on shares of IonQ in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Benchmark cut their target price on IonQ from $16.00 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Craig Hallum dropped their price target on shares of IonQ from $21.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on IonQ from $11.50 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $12.00.

IonQ Stock Performance

The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $8.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $8.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.98 billion, a P/E ratio of -18.00 and a beta of 2.05.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.18) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by $0.04. IonQ had a negative net margin of 525.13% and a negative return on equity of 34.02%. The business had revenue of $11.38 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.66 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.16) EPS. IonQ’s revenue was up 106.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 9,159 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.72, for a total transaction of $98,184.48. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now directly owns 648,783 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,954,953.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders have sold 31,125 shares of company stock worth $377,660. Corporate insiders own 11.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IonQ

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in IonQ by 4.0% during the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 36,495 shares of the company’s stock worth $365,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its position in IonQ by 3.6% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 49,550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $348,000 after purchasing an additional 1,731 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of IonQ by 10.5% during the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 29,427 shares of the company’s stock worth $294,000 after purchasing an additional 2,805 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC boosted 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 valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 6,368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of IonQ by 40.6% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 26,801 shares of the company’s stock valued at $188,000 after buying an additional 7,744 shares in the last quarter. 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.