IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Trading Up 2.1% - What's Next?

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ - Get Free Report)'s stock price traded up 2.1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $43.39 and last traded at $42.36. 9,078,924 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 55% from the average session volume of 19,972,928 shares. The stock had previously closed at $41.47.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

IonQ Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $12.23 billion, a P/E ratio of -31.44 and a beta of 2.55. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.07.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kathryn K. Chou sold 6,789 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.14, for a total transaction of $292,877.46. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 60,839 shares in the company, valued at $2,624,594.46. This represents a 10.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Peter Hume Chapman sold 1,497,311 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.93, for a total value of $59,787,628.23. Following the sale, the insider owned 390,329 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,585,836.97. This represents a 79.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 9,144,372 shares of company stock valued at $358,255,229. 5.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On IonQ

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in IonQ by 0.6% during the 1st 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 position in IonQ by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,466,094 shares of the company's stock valued at $186,593,000 after buying an additional 45,942 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of IonQ by 1,310.9% in the 4th 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 shares of IonQ by 12.6% in the 4th 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, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of IonQ by 101.4% in the 1st quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 927,760 shares of the company's stock worth $20,476,000 after purchasing an additional 467,084 shares in the last quarter. 41.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.