IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Trading Up 2.6% Following Analyst Upgrade

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ - Get Free Report) shares shot up 2.6% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Benchmark raised their price target on the stock from $40.00 to $50.00. Benchmark currently has a buy rating on the stock. IonQ traded as high as $43.96 and last traded at $40.79. 29,018,270 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 24% from the average session volume of 23,361,875 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.74.

IONQ has been the subject of a number of other research reports. DA Davidson cut their target price on shares of IonQ from $50.00 to $35.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. 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. Finally, Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on shares of IonQ from $54.00 to $50.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $40.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Masi Niccolo De sold 9,280 shares of IonQ stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.23, for a total value of $391,894.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 711,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,067,211.01. The trade was a 1.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 5.20% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IonQ

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in IonQ by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,497,964 shares of the company's stock valued at $474,460,000 after acquiring an additional 123,839 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in IonQ by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,466,094 shares of the company's stock valued at $186,593,000 after purchasing an additional 45,942 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position 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 valued at $103,095,000 after buying an additional 2,293,231 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position 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 valued at $80,809,000 after buying an additional 216,752 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of IonQ by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,645,672 shares of the company's stock valued at $68,740,000 after buying an additional 31,638 shares in the last quarter. 41.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

IonQ Trading Down 1.4%

The firm's 50-day moving average price is $32.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $33.27. The company has a market capitalization of $8.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -48.32 and a beta of 2.59.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.14) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.28) by $0.14. IonQ had a negative net margin of 457.85% and a negative return on equity of 36.82%. The business had revenue of $7.57 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.51 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.19) earnings per share. The company's revenue was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate 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.