IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Trading Up 4.8% on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) were up 4.8% on Wednesday after Benchmark raised their price target on the stock from $55.00 to $75.00. Benchmark currently has a buy rating on the stock. IonQ traded as high as $66.39 and last traded at $65.25. Approximately 47,475,071 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 111% from the average daily volume of 22,550,982 shares. The stock had previously closed at $62.26.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on IonQ from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on IonQ from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on IonQ in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. DA Davidson downgraded IonQ from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer started coverage on IonQ in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.56.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Thomas G. Kramer sold 72,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.26, for a total transaction of $3,042,720.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 646,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,321,766.16. This trade represents a 10.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Robert T. Cardillo sold 8,773 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.52, for a total value of $443,211.96. Following the transaction, the insider owned 37,436 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,891,266.72. This represents a 18.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,848,358 shares of company stock valued at $75,433,239. Company insiders own 5.20% 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 IONQ. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in IonQ by 120.0% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 34,033 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,422,000 after purchasing an additional 18,566 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in IonQ during the fourth quarter valued at about $303,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its position in IonQ by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 555,192 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,190,000 after purchasing an additional 71,168 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP bought a new stake in IonQ during the fourth quarter valued at about $283,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of IonQ by 52.7% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 57,248 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,391,000 after acquiring an additional 19,758 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 41.42% of the company’s stock.

IonQ Stock Up 4.8%

The firm has a market cap of $19.37 billion, a PE ratio of -32.46 and a beta of 2.54. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $43.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $35.76.

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