IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) Short Interest Up 8.1% in August

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of 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. Based on an average daily volume of 4,590,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 8.0 days. Approximately 20.0% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Peter Hume Chapman sold 5,936 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.89, for a total value of $46,835.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 445,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,513,393.33. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 9,807 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 transaction of $77,377.23. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now directly owns 687,840 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,427,057.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Peter Hume Chapman sold 5,936 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 value of $46,835.04. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 445,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,513,393.33. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 20,353 shares of company stock worth $160,585. Insiders own 11.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of IonQ

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of IONQ. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its position in shares of IonQ by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 36,495 shares of the company’s stock worth $365,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its position in IonQ by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 66,328 shares of the company’s stock worth $822,000 after buying an additional 1,416 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in IonQ by 26.1% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 8,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,000 after acquiring an additional 1,655 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in IonQ by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 49,550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $348,000 after acquiring an additional 1,731 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gratus Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of IonQ by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. Gratus Capital LLC now owns 22,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $279,000 after acquiring an additional 2,500 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 41.42% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IONQ has been the subject of a number of research reports. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $18.00 target price on shares of IonQ in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. Benchmark lowered their target price on IonQ from $16.00 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Craig Hallum cut their price target on IonQ from $21.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on IonQ from $11.50 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $13.00.

IonQ Price Performance

IONQ opened at $7.42 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $7.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $8.45. IonQ has a one year low of $6.22 and a one year high of $21.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.57 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.94 and a beta of 2.06.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last issued its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $11.38 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.66 million. IonQ had a negative net margin of 525.13% and a negative return on equity of 34.02%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 106.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.16) EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that IonQ will post -0.84 EPS for the current year.

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.