IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Shares Up 3.7% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• IonQ's stock price rose 3.7% to $42.94, despite a significant decline in trading volume, with only 4.3 million shares traded compared to an average of 22.4 million.
• Several research firms set new price targets for IonQ, with ratings ranging from “buy” to “equal weight,” and a consensus price target of $46.78.
• IonQ reported a quarterly revenue of $20.69 million, which was above analyst expectations, but posted a significant loss of ($0.70) EPS, missing the consensus estimate by $0.57.

Shares of IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ - Get Free Report) rose 3.7% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $42.61 and last traded at $42.94. Approximately 4,345,426 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 22,409,395 shares. The stock had previously closed at $41.42.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IONQ has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities initiated coverage on IonQ in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. B. Riley initiated coverage on IonQ in a report on Wednesday, August 27th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $61.00 price objective for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on IonQ in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. They issued a "market perform" rating for the company. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on IonQ in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. They issued an "outperform" rating for the company. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on IonQ in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $45.00 price objective for the company. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, IonQ has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $46.78.

IonQ Stock Down 1.3%

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $34.31. The company has a market cap of $12.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -21.27 and a beta of 2.54.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.70) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.13) by ($0.57). IonQ had a negative net margin of 885.21% and a negative return on equity of 67.11%. The business had revenue of $20.69 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.23 million. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.18) EPS. IonQ's revenue was up 81.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other IonQ news, CFO Thomas G. Kramer sold 17,776 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.28, for a total value of $733,793.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 537,880 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $22,203,686.40. This trade represents a 3.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kathryn K. Chou sold 6,789 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.14, for a total value of $292,877.46. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 60,839 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,624,594.46. This trade represents a 10.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,209,626 shares of company stock worth $361,253,723 in the last ninety days. 5.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of IonQ

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IONQ. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in IonQ in the 4th quarter valued at about $353,000. Stifel Financial Corp purchased a new stake in IonQ in the 4th quarter valued at about $378,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in IonQ by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 112,531 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,700,000 after buying an additional 7,066 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in IonQ by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,934,625 shares of the company's stock valued at $80,809,000 after buying an additional 216,752 shares during the period. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV purchased a new stake in IonQ in the 4th quarter valued at about $474,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.42% of the company's stock.

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.