Needham & Company LLC Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Stock

Key Points

• Needham & Company LLC has raised its price target for IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) from $60.00 to $80.00, indicating a potential upside of 43.56% from its current price.
• Several analysts have given IonQ a "buy" rating, with a current average target price of $50.11 and a "Moderate Buy" rating from the consensus.
• IonQ reported a revenue of $20.69 million for the latest quarter, significantly up by 81.6% year-over-year, although it missed EPS expectations.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ - Get Free Report) had its price target upped by equities research analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $60.00 to $80.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat reports. The firm presently has a "buy" rating on the stock. Needham & Company LLC's target price suggests a potential upside of 43.56% from the company's current price.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on IONQ. B. Riley started coverage on IonQ in a research report on Wednesday, August 27th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $61.00 target price for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on IonQ in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $45.00 target price for the company. Oppenheimer started coverage on IonQ in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. They issued an "outperform" rating for the company. DA Davidson cut IonQ from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $35.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities initiated coverage on IonQ in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. They set a "buy" rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $50.11.

IonQ Price Performance

Shares of IONQ stock opened at $55.72 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $16.54 billion, a P/E ratio of -27.72 and a beta of 2.54. IonQ has a one year low of $7.40 and a one year high of $56.07. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $42.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.13.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kathryn K. Chou sold 6,789 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director directly owned 60,839 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,624,594.46. This trade represents a 10.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Paul T. Dacier sold 4,175 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.40, for a total value of $185,370.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 114,454 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,081,757.60. This trade represents a 3.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,750,325 shares of company stock valued at $109,397,784 in the last 90 days. 5.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of IonQ

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of IONQ. BNP Paribas Financial Markets acquired a new stake in shares of IonQ in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,545,000. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in IonQ by 120.0% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 34,033 shares of the company's stock worth $1,422,000 after purchasing an additional 18,566 shares during the period. Gotham Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in IonQ in the fourth quarter worth about $474,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in IonQ by 21.1% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 85,941 shares of the company's stock worth $3,588,000 after purchasing an additional 15,000 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in IonQ in the fourth quarter worth about $303,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.