IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $30.25, but opened at $31.99. IonQ shares last traded at $31.02, with a volume of 23,483,565 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on IONQ. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on IonQ from $13.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Benchmark boosted their target price on shares of IonQ from $12.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. DA Davidson assumed coverage on shares of IonQ in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price target for the company. Finally, Craig Hallum upped their price target on IonQ from $22.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, IonQ presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $28.60.

IonQ Stock Up 8.7 %

The business’s 50-day moving average is $33.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.45. The company has a market capitalization of $7.11 billion, a P/E ratio of -40.58 and a beta of 2.43.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.24) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.22) by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $12.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.56 million. IonQ had a negative return on equity of 36.82% and a negative net margin of 457.85%. IonQ’s quarterly revenue was up 102.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.22) EPS. Analysts predict that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at IonQ

In other news, CEO Peter Hume Chapman sold 13,106 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.73, for a total value of $389,641.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 414,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,319,011.99. This trade represents a 3.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 21,337 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.73, for a total value of $634,349.01. Following the sale, the executive now owns 571,321 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,985,373.33. The trade was a 3.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 109,507 shares of company stock worth $2,279,308. 11.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IONQ. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in IonQ by 4.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,420,152 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,640,000 after acquiring an additional 199,360 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of IonQ by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,260,880 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,240,000 after purchasing an additional 75,596 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of IonQ by 9.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,614,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,107,000 after purchasing an additional 135,851 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of IonQ by 16.7% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 916,536 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,443,000 after buying an additional 131,439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its position in IonQ by 7.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 612,625 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,354,000 after buying an additional 41,125 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.42% of the company’s stock.

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.