IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Stock Price Up 8.2% – Still a Buy?

Shares of IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) rose 8.2% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $45.46 and last traded at $44.95. 19,465,208 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 22% from the average session volume of 25,055,043 shares. The stock had previously closed at $41.53.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Northland Securities lifted their price objective on shares of IonQ from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Morgan Stanley set a $49.00 target price on shares of IonQ in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of IonQ from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of IonQ from $42.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of IonQ from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, IonQ presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.92.

IonQ Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $17.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.65 and a beta of 3.28. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $44.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $43.17.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported ($0.33) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.56) by $0.23. IonQ had a negative return on equity of 22.29% and a negative net margin of 553.27%.The business had revenue of $80.05 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $66.47 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.70) earnings per share. IonQ’s revenue for the quarter was up 286.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that IonQ, Inc. will post -2.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at IonQ

In other news, insider John W. Raymond sold 3,815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.01, for a total transaction of $209,863.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 80,148 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,408,941.48. This represents a 4.54% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gabrielle B. Toledano sold 2,757 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.01, for a total transaction of $151,662.57. Following the sale, the director owned 11,154 shares in the company, valued at $613,581.54. This represents a 19.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 9,329 shares of company stock valued at $513,216 in the last ninety days. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Swedbank AB bought a new position in IonQ in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,708,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in IonQ during the fourth quarter worth about $3,271,000. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund lifted its holdings in shares of IonQ by 96.5% in the first quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 125,556 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,620,000 after acquiring an additional 61,656 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of IonQ by 30.3% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 62,184 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,790,000 after acquiring an additional 14,465 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Simplicity Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of IonQ in the second quarter worth about $981,000. 41.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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. It also provides contracts associated with the design, development, and construction of specialized quantum computing hardware systems; maintenance and support services; and consulting services related to co-developing algorithms on quantum computing systems.