Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ:RGTI) Trading 3.1% Higher - What's Next?

Key Points

• Rigetti Computing shares rose 3.1% to $16.44, reaching an intraday high of $16.68, although trading volume was 53% below the average.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed, with a consensus “Hold” rating and a $30.67 price target; recent actions ranged from Zacks Research’s “strong sell” downgrade to Benchmark’s “buy” initiation.
• The company matched quarterly EPS expectations at a loss of $0.05 per share and slightly exceeded revenue forecasts with $5.14 million, but continued to report a deeply negative net margin. Insiders sold $17.3 million of shares over the past 90 days, while institutional ownership stands at 35.38%.

Rigetti Computing, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGTI - Get Free Report)'s share price traded up 3.1% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $16.68 and last traded at $16.44. Approximately 15,092,934 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 53% from the average daily volume of 31,978,596 shares. The stock had previously closed at $15.94.

Analyst Ratings Changes

RGTI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $18.00 price target on shares of Rigetti Computing in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Rigetti Computing from $33.00 to $27.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Zacks Research cut shares of Rigetti Computing from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Benchmark assumed coverage on Rigetti Computing in a report on Monday, July 27th. They set a "buy" rating and a $25.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Rigetti Computing from a "sell (d-)" rating to a "sell (e+)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Rigetti Computing currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $30.67.

Rigetti Computing Stock Up 3.1%

The firm has a market cap of $5.49 billion, a PE ratio of -18.27 and a beta of 1.99. The firm's 50 day moving average is $17.09 and its 200-day moving average is $17.72.

Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ:RGTI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.05) EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $5.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.09 million. Rigetti Computing had a negative net margin of 2,189.54% and a negative return on equity of 17.50%. On average, analysts forecast that Rigetti Computing, Inc. will post -0.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ray O. Johnson sold 84,944 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.55, for a total transaction of $1,745,599.20. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 95,537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,963,285.35. This represents a 47.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CTO Andrew Joseph Bestwick sold 5,791 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.81, for a total value of $97,346.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,036,121 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,417,194.01. The trade was a 0.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold 725,149 shares of company stock worth $17,345,425 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of RGTI. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of Rigetti Computing by 1,861.8% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 7,414,688 shares of the company's stock valued at $143,252,000 after purchasing an additional 7,036,733 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Rigetti Computing by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,970,648 shares of the company's stock valued at $796,750,000 after buying an additional 3,924,171 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Rigetti Computing by 1,632.5% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,571,289 shares of the company's stock worth $56,954,000 after buying an additional 2,422,873 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Rigetti Computing during the 2nd quarter worth $21,887,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Rigetti Computing in the 4th quarter worth $38,889,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 35.38% of the company's stock.

About Rigetti Computing

Rigetti Computing is a pioneering quantum computing company that designs and manufactures superconducting quantum processors alongside a complementary software stack. Founded in 2013 by CEO Chad Rigetti, the company has developed end-to-end quantum systems—from cryogenic hardware to control electronics—to advance the performance and scalability of quantum machines.

At the core of Rigetti's offering is its Quantum Cloud Services (QCS) platform, which enables developers and enterprises to access quantum processing units (QPUs) and hybrid quantum-classical workflows via the cloud.

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