IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Shares Up 1.3% - Still a Buy?

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ - Get Free Report) traded up 1.3% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $43.20 and last traded at $42.50. 5,493,377 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 20,305,963 shares. The stock had previously closed at $41.94.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Benchmark boosted their price objective on IonQ from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of IonQ in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on IonQ from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on IonQ from $50.00 to $35.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on IonQ in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $45.00 target price for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $41.43.

IonQ Stock Down 1.9%

The stock has a market cap of $11.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -28.90 and a beta of 2.55. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $41.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.99.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.14) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.28) by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $7.57 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.51 million. IonQ had a negative net margin of 753.20% and a negative return on equity of 63.35%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.19) earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other IonQ news, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 65,000 shares of IonQ stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.57, for a total transaction of $2,507,050.00. Following the transaction, the executive directly owned 552,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,313,473.44. The trade was a 10.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Peter Hume Chapman sold 3,581,193 shares of IonQ stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.13, for a total transaction of $136,550,889.09. Following the transaction, the insider owned 390,329 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,883,244.77. The trade was a 90.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 9,191,850 shares of company stock valued at $360,519,930. 5.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IonQ

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IONQ. Sei Investments Co. purchased a new position in IonQ during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,255,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in shares of IonQ during the 4th quarter valued at $1,616,000. LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of IonQ by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 131,846 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,507,000 after acquiring an additional 10,982 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of IonQ by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,374,125 shares of the company's stock valued at $892,797,000 after acquiring an additional 125,144 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of IonQ by 1,310.9% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,468,160 shares of the company's stock valued at $103,095,000 after acquiring an additional 2,293,231 shares in the last quarter. 41.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.