IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Receives "Buy" Rating from Needham & Company LLC

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reaffirmed by analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $50.00 target price on the stock. Needham & Company LLC's target price would indicate a potential upside of 32.31% from the stock's current price.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on IONQ. Benchmark raised their price objective on shares of IonQ from $40.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. DA Davidson cut their price target on IonQ from $50.00 to $35.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on IonQ from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given 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 a consensus target price of $40.00.

IonQ Stock Down 2.4%

IONQ stock traded down $0.92 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $37.79. 19,334,687 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,650,854. IonQ has a twelve month low of $6.22 and a twelve month high of $54.74. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $33.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -46.65 and a beta of 2.59.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.14) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.28) by $0.14. The company had revenue of $7.57 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.51 million. IonQ had a negative return on equity of 36.82% and a negative net margin of 457.85%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.19) earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that IonQ will post -0.86 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at IonQ

In related news, Director Gabrielle B. Toledano sold 792 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.50, for a total value of $32,868.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,868. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Masi Niccolo De sold 9,280 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.23, for a total value of $391,894.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 711,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,067,211.01. This represents a 1.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 2,766,957 shares of company stock worth $111,561,975. 5.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in IonQ by 0.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,497,964 shares of the company's stock valued at $474,460,000 after buying an additional 123,839 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in IonQ by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,466,094 shares of the company's stock worth $186,593,000 after purchasing an additional 45,942 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in IonQ by 1,310.9% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,468,160 shares of the company's stock worth $103,095,000 after purchasing an additional 2,293,231 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in IonQ by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,934,625 shares of the company's stock worth $80,809,000 after purchasing an additional 216,752 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in IonQ by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,645,672 shares of the company's stock worth $68,740,000 after purchasing an additional 31,638 shares in the last quarter. 41.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.