IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Shares Up 6% – Here’s What Happened

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) shares traded up 6% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $42.94 and last traded at $42.42. 14,653,832 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 41% from the average daily volume of 24,813,377 shares. The stock had previously closed at $40.03.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on IONQ shares. Wedbush began coverage on shares of IonQ in a report on Monday, August 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $75.00 price target on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of IonQ from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of IonQ from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Jefferies Financial Group set a $75.00 target price on IonQ in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of IonQ in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.92.

IonQ Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $14.93 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.41 and a beta of 3.28. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $42.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.36.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported ($0.33) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.56) by $0.23. IonQ had a negative net margin of 553.27% and a negative return on equity of 22.29%. The company had revenue of $80.05 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $66.47 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.70) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 286.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that IonQ, Inc. will post -2.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John W. Raymond sold 3,815 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.01, for a total transaction of $209,863.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 80,148 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,408,941.48. This represents a 4.54% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kathryn K. Chou sold 2,757 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.02, for a total transaction of $151,690.14. Following the sale, the director owned 62,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,444,692.16. The trade was a 4.22% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 9,329 shares of company stock valued at $513,216 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of IonQ

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in shares of IonQ by 12.5% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 134,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,962,000 after buying an additional 14,898 shares during the last quarter. Amundi purchased a new stake in IonQ in the 1st quarter worth about $630,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in IonQ by 106.2% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 57,305 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,265,000 after acquiring an additional 29,513 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in IonQ by 24.1% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 450,031 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,932,000 after acquiring an additional 87,428 shares during the period. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth raised its stake in IonQ by 30.3% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 46,782 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,032,000 after acquiring an additional 10,881 shares during the period. 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. It also provides contracts associated with the design, development, and construction of specialized quantum computing hardware systems; maintenance and support services; and consulting services related to co-developing algorithms on quantum computing systems.