IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Trading 2.1% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• IonQ's stock price rose by 2.1% after B. Riley upgraded their price target from $75.00 to $100.00, maintaining a buy rating on the stock.
• Institutional investors have increased their positions in IonQ, with notable increases by firms such as GAMMA Investing LLC and Modus Advisors LLC.
• IonQ reported an earnings miss with a loss of ($0.70) per share, but had strong revenue growth of 81.6% compared to the prior year.

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ - Get Free Report)'s stock price shot up 2.1% on Monday after B. Riley raised their price target on the stock from $75.00 to $100.00. B. Riley currently has a buy rating on the stock. IonQ traded as high as $73.17 and last traded at $71.90. 35,260,439 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 54% from the average session volume of 22,935,432 shares. The stock had previously closed at $70.41.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on IONQ. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of IonQ in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. They issued an "outperform" rating on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on IonQ from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, September 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on IonQ in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. They issued a "market perform" rating for the company. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on IonQ from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, September 15th. Finally, Benchmark raised their price target on IonQ from $55.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, IonQ presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $58.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Masi Niccolo De sold 16,120 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.40, for a total value of $715,728.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,181,186 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $52,444,658.40. The trade was a 1.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kathryn K. Chou sold 6,789 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.14, for a total value of $292,877.46. Following the sale, the director directly owned 60,839 shares in the company, valued at $2,624,594.46. This trade represents a 10.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 351,047 shares of company stock worth $15,645,611 in the last quarter. 5.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of IonQ during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $219,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of IonQ by 4,683.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 54,336 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,199,000 after purchasing an additional 53,200 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers increased its position in shares of IonQ by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 323,930 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,149,000 after purchasing an additional 20,127 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of IonQ by 54.1% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,735 shares of the company's stock valued at $203,000 after purchasing an additional 3,068 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. increased its position in shares of IonQ by 15.7% during the 1st quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 20,740 shares of the company's stock valued at $458,000 after purchasing an additional 2,814 shares during the last quarter. 41.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

IonQ Trading Up 2.1%

The stock has a market cap of $21.34 billion, a P/E ratio of -35.77 and a beta of 2.54. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $44.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $36.60.

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

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.

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