IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Stock Price Up 6.5% After Analyst Upgrade

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) shot up 6.5% on Friday after The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on the stock from $16.00 to $30.00. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. IonQ traded as high as $33.34 and last traded at $32.23. 42,498,737 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 5% from the average session volume of 44,682,926 shares. The stock had previously closed at $30.25.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on IONQ. Benchmark increased their price target on IonQ from $12.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. DA Davidson initiated coverage on IonQ in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 target price for the company. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of IonQ from $13.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Craig Hallum lifted their price objective on shares of IonQ from $22.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at IonQ

In related news, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 9,159 shares of IonQ stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.72, for a total transaction of $98,184.48. Following the transaction, the executive now directly owns 648,783 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,954,953.76. This trade represents a 1.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Thomas G. Kramer sold 9,780 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.72, for a total value of $290,661.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 926,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,524,108.08. This represents a 1.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 109,507 shares of company stock valued at $2,279,308 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On IonQ

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 199,360 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake 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 worth $37,240,000 after acquiring an additional 75,596 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in IonQ by 9.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,614,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,107,000 after acquiring an additional 135,851 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in IonQ by 7.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 612,625 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,354,000 after acquiring an additional 41,125 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Carnegie Investment Counsel purchased a new position in IonQ in the third quarter worth $5,036,000. Institutional investors own 41.42% of the company’s stock.

IonQ Stock Up 7.4 %

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $34.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $17.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -40.10 and a beta of 2.49.

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