IonQ Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:IONQ)

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) was the target of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors acquired 113,654 call options on the company. Thisrepresentsanincreaseof37% compared to the average daily volume of 82,731 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on IonQ in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $45.00 price target for the company. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of IonQ in a report on Monday, August 4th. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on IonQ in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Rosenblatt Securities initiated coverage on IonQ in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. They set a “buy” rating and a $70.00 price target for the company. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on IonQ in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, IonQ presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.00.

IonQ Trading Down 8.6%

Shares of IonQ stock opened at $36.7570 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $41.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $34.36. IonQ has a 12 month low of $6.54 and a 12 month high of $54.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.91 billion, a PE ratio of -18.29 and a beta of 2.54.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.70) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by ($0.57). The company had revenue of $20.69 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.23 million. IonQ had a negative return on equity of 67.11% and a negative net margin of 885.21%.IonQ’s revenue was up 81.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.18) earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that IonQ will post -0.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.18, for a total transaction of $2,078,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive owned 552,592 shares in the company, valued at $25,518,698.56. The trade was a 7.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Peter Hume Chapman sold 1,497,311 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.93, for a total value of $59,787,628.23. Following the sale, the insider owned 390,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,585,836.97. This represents a 79.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 9,209,626 shares of company stock valued at $361,253,723. Company insiders own 5.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Archer Investment Corp raised its stake in shares of IonQ by 119.3% in the second quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 592 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of IonQ by 348.0% in the first quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 1,120 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 870 shares during the last quarter. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. purchased a new position in shares of IonQ in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. purchased a new position in shares of IonQ in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC raised its stake in shares of IonQ by 50.0% in the first quarter. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC now owns 1,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.42% of the company’s stock.

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.