IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 36,680,000 shares, an increase of 8.1% from the July 31st total of 33,920,000 shares. Approximately 20.0% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 4,590,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 8.0 days.

Insider Transactions at IonQ

In other IonQ news, CEO Peter Hume Chapman sold 5,936 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.89, for a total value of $46,835.04. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 445,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,513,393.33. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Peter Hume Chapman sold 5,936 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.89, for a total value of $46,835.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 445,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,513,393.33. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 9,807 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.89, for a total transaction of $77,377.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now directly owns 687,840 shares in the company, valued at $5,427,057.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,353 shares of company stock valued at $160,585. 11.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On IonQ

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of IONQ. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in IonQ by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 66,328 shares of the company’s stock valued at $822,000 after purchasing an additional 1,416 shares during the last quarter. Precision Wealth Strategies LLC raised its position in shares of IonQ by 38.6% in the 4th quarter. Precision Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 14,048 shares of the company’s stock valued at $174,000 after purchasing an additional 3,909 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of IonQ by 29.2% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 48,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $596,000 after buying an additional 10,855 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in shares of IonQ by 26.1% during the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 8,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,000 after buying an additional 1,655 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of IonQ by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,321,275 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,371,000 after buying an additional 29,577 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.42% of the company’s stock.

IonQ Trading Up 1.4 %

NYSE IONQ opened at $7.42 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $7.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $8.45. IonQ has a twelve month low of $6.22 and a twelve month high of $21.60. The company has a market capitalization of $1.57 billion, a PE ratio of -8.94 and a beta of 2.06.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.18) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by $0.04. IonQ had a negative net margin of 525.13% and a negative return on equity of 34.02%. The company had revenue of $11.38 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.66 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.16) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 106.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that IonQ will post -0.84 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on IonQ from $11.50 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 9th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $18.00 target price on shares of IonQ in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. Benchmark dropped their price target on shares of IonQ from $16.00 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Craig Hallum reduced their price objective on shares of IonQ from $21.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $13.00.

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.