Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Makes New $474,000 Investment in IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV acquired a new stake in IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 11,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $474,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in IonQ by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,934,625 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,809,000 after purchasing an additional 216,752 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in shares of IonQ by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 112,531 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,700,000 after buying an additional 7,066 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado purchased a new position in shares of IonQ in the fourth quarter worth $886,000. Nebula Research & Development LLC purchased a new position in shares of IonQ in the fourth quarter worth $1,128,000. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of IonQ during the fourth quarter worth $407,000. Institutional investors own 41.42% of the company’s stock.

IonQ Trading Up 0.9%

IONQ opened at $33.19 on Wednesday. IonQ, Inc. has a 12 month low of $6.22 and a 12 month high of $54.74. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $25.37 and a 200 day moving average of $30.81. The firm has a market cap of $7.40 billion, a P/E ratio of -40.97 and a beta of 2.46.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.14) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.28) by $0.14. The company had revenue of $7.57 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.51 million. IonQ had a negative return on equity of 36.82% and a negative net margin of 457.85%. IonQ’s quarterly revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.19) EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on IONQ shares. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on shares of IonQ from $50.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on IonQ from $54.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Benchmark cut their price target on IonQ from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on IonQ from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.33.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Thomas G. Kramer sold 11,712 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.57, for a total value of $217,491.84. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 944,510 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,539,550.70. This represents a 1.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director William F. Scannell purchased 93,066 shares of IonQ stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $21.81 per share, for a total transaction of $2,029,769.46. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 135,047 shares in the company, valued at $2,945,375.07. This trade represents a 221.69% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 2,033,166 shares of company stock valued at $38,059,593. 11.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.