IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Shares Up 3.7% - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• The stock price of IonQ, Inc. rose by 3.7% to $41.38 amid trading, with a notable decline in share volume compared to average levels.
• Analysts have given a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" for IonQ, with price targets varying from $30.00 to $70.00, indicating confidence in its potential for growth.
• IonQ recently reported earnings of ($0.14) per share, exceeding analysts' expectations, though the company's revenue was down by 0.2% year-over-year.

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ - Get Free Report) traded up 3.7% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $42.28 and last traded at $41.38. 9,063,491 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 61% from the average session volume of 23,001,303 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.88.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of IonQ in a research report on Wednesday. They issued an "outperform" rating for the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of IonQ from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Rosenblatt Securities began coverage on shares of IonQ in a research report on Tuesday. They set a "buy" rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of IonQ in a research report on Wednesday. They set a "peer perform" rating for the company. Finally, Benchmark raised their price objective on shares of IonQ from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, IonQ presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $45.00.

IonQ Stock Down 2.9%

The stock has a market cap of $10.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -25.95 and a beta of 2.55. The business's fifty day moving average is $41.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.28.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at IonQ

In other IonQ news, CEO Masi Niccolo De sold 2,597,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 711,987 shares in the company, valued at $28,721,555.58. The trade was a 78.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Thomas G. Kramer sold 216,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.11, for a total transaction of $8,231,760.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 718,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at $27,382,644.76. This trade represents a 23.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 9,191,850 shares of company stock worth $360,519,930. 5.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IONQ. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in IonQ by 1,310.9% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,468,160 shares of the company's stock worth $103,095,000 after acquiring an additional 2,293,231 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. acquired a new position in IonQ during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,519,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new position in IonQ during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,513,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in IonQ by 439.3% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 857,078 shares of the company's stock worth $35,800,000 after acquiring an additional 698,146 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in IonQ by 475.4% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 688,764 shares of the company's stock worth $28,771,000 after acquiring an additional 569,061 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.42% of the company's stock.

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.