IonQ’s (IONQ) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) in a research report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $50.00 price objective on the stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. 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 report on Thursday, May 8th. Benchmark increased their target price on shares of IonQ from $40.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of IonQ from $50.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $40.00.

IonQ Stock Performance

Shares of IONQ stock opened at $37.79 on Wednesday. IonQ has a 52-week low of $6.22 and a 52-week high of $54.74. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $33.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.37. The company has a market capitalization of $8.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -46.65 and a beta of 2.59.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.14) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $7.57 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.51 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.19) EPS. The company’s revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that IonQ will post -0.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Gabrielle B. Toledano sold 792 shares of IonQ stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.50, for a total transaction of $32,868.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,868. The trade was a 50.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 65,000 shares of IonQ stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.57, for a total transaction of $2,507,050.00. Following the transaction, the executive now directly owns 552,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,313,473.44. This trade represents a 10.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,766,957 shares of company stock valued at $111,561,975 in the last quarter. Insiders own 5.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of IonQ during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of IonQ by 421.0% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 501 shares during the last quarter. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. purchased a new position in shares of IonQ during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. bought a new stake in IonQ during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in IonQ during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 41.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.