LPL Financial LLC Raises Stock Holdings in IonQ, Inc. $IONQ

Key Points

• LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in IonQ, Inc. by 14.7% during Q1, owning over 151,000 shares valued at approximately $3.34 million.
• Insider transactions were significant, with CFO Thomas G. Kramer selling 216,000 shares, leading to a 23.11% reduction in his ownership.
• Despite a revenue increase of 81.6% year-over-year, IonQ reported a large earnings miss with an EPS of ($0.70), significantly below analysts' expectations.

LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ - Free Report) by 14.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 151,209 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 19,363 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC owned about 0.07% of IonQ worth $3,337,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. ORG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in IonQ by 348.0% in the 1st quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 1,120 shares of the company's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 870 shares during the last quarter. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. acquired a new position in IonQ in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. acquired a new position in IonQ in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC lifted its stake in shares of IonQ by 50.0% during the first quarter. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC now owns 1,500 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of IonQ by 780.1% during the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,461 shares of the company's stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 1,295 shares during the period. 41.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at IonQ

In other news, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 65,000 shares of IonQ stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.57, for a total value of $2,507,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive owned 552,592 shares in the company, valued at $21,313,473.44. This trade represents a 10.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Masi Niccolo De sold 2,597,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.34, for a total value of $104,783,150.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 711,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,721,555.58. This represents a 78.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 9,209,626 shares of company stock worth $361,253,723 over the last three months. Company insiders own 5.20% of the company's stock.

IonQ Price Performance

Shares of NYSE IONQ traded down $3.2840 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $36.9460. 13,401,125 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 22,812,248. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.47 and a beta of 2.54. IonQ, Inc. has a 52 week low of $6.54 and a 52 week high of $54.74. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $41.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $34.35.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.70) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by ($0.57). The business had revenue of $20.69 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.23 million. IonQ had a negative return on equity of 67.11% and a negative net margin of 885.21%.IonQ's revenue for the quarter was up 81.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.18) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on IONQ shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on IonQ from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on IonQ in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. They set a "peer perform" rating for the company. DA Davidson cut IonQ from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $35.00 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on IonQ in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. They set a "market perform" rating for the company. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities began coverage on IonQ in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. They set a "buy" rating and a $70.00 target price for the company. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, IonQ presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $45.00.

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.