IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Stock Price Up 16.4% on Analyst Upgrade

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ)’s stock price was up 16.4% during mid-day trading on Friday after Craig Hallum raised their price target on the stock from $22.00 to $45.00. Craig Hallum currently has a buy rating on the stock. IonQ traded as high as $44.09 and last traded at $43.94. Approximately 15,080,684 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 46% from the average daily volume of 10,337,357 shares. The stock had previously closed at $37.76.

IONQ has been the subject of several other reports. DA Davidson initiated coverage on IonQ in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. Benchmark raised their price target on IonQ from $12.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on IonQ from $13.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, IonQ currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $28.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at IonQ

In other IonQ news, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 9,159 shares of IonQ stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.72, for a total transaction of $98,184.48. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now directly owns 648,783 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,954,953.76. The trade was a 1.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Thomas G. Kramer sold 9,780 shares of IonQ stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.72, for a total value of $290,661.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 926,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,524,108.08. This trade represents a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 110,223 shares of company stock valued at $2,286,983 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in IONQ. Arizona State Retirement System grew its stake in IonQ by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 49,550 shares of the company’s stock worth $348,000 after buying an additional 1,731 shares during the last quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in IonQ by 12.4% during the 3rd quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc. now owns 33,898 shares of the company’s stock worth $296,000 after acquiring an additional 3,736 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in IonQ by 29.3% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 18,938 shares of the company’s stock worth $166,000 after acquiring an additional 4,288 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC lifted its position in IonQ by 4,824.2% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 6,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 6,368 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in IonQ by 40.6% during the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 26,801 shares of the company’s stock worth $188,000 after acquiring an additional 7,744 shares during the period. 41.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

IonQ Trading Up 17.6 %

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $25.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $14.03. The company has a market cap of $9.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -54.84 and a beta of 2.49.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.24) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.22) by ($0.02). IonQ had a negative return on equity of 36.82% and a negative net margin of 457.85%. The firm had revenue of $12.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.56 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.22) EPS. The business’s revenue was up 102.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.