IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Coverage Initiated at Jefferies Financial Group

Stock analysts at Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm set a “buy” rating and a $100.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective points to a potential upside of 118.17% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. B. Riley lifted their price objective on shares of IonQ from $75.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of IonQ from $35.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of IonQ in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $90.00 price objective for the company. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of IonQ from $70.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on IonQ from $32.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.00.

IonQ Stock Performance

IONQ stock opened at $45.84 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $55.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $49.88. The company has a market capitalization of $15.92 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.57 and a beta of 2.62. IonQ has a 52-week low of $17.88 and a 52-week high of $84.64.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported ($3.58) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.44) by ($3.14). The company had revenue of $39.87 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.99 million. IonQ had a negative net margin of 1,836.32% and a negative return on equity of 127.06%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 221.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.24) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that IonQ will post -0.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director William J. Teuber, Jr. acquired 2,000 shares of IonQ stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 11th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $54.81 per share, with a total value of $109,620.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 6,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $351,496.53. This trade represents a 45.32% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.89, for a total value of $4,689,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive directly owned 432,616 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,285,364.24. This represents a 18.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 5.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of IonQ by 18.5% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,354,706 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,805,314,000 after acquiring an additional 4,587,260 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in IonQ during the 2nd quarter worth about $114,767,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in IonQ by 648.5% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,674,348 shares of the company’s stock worth $114,917,000 after purchasing an additional 2,317,058 shares during the period. Lansdowne Partners UK LLP grew its holdings in IonQ by 286.1% during the 3rd quarter. Lansdowne Partners UK LLP now owns 1,937,031 shares of the company’s stock valued at $119,127,000 after buying an additional 1,435,394 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in IonQ by 19.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,299,559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $387,423,000 after buying an additional 1,043,878 shares in the last quarter. 41.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.