IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Stock Price Up 12.5% – Still a Buy?

Shares of IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) shot up 12.5% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $47.34 and last traded at $46.92. 39,838,850 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 61% from the average session volume of 24,701,639 shares. The stock had previously closed at $41.71.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on IONQ shares. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on IonQ in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. B. Riley lifted their target price on IonQ from $75.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Benchmark increased their price target on shares of IonQ from $55.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on shares of IonQ from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lifted 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. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $66.00.

IonQ Trading Down 0.4%

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $61.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $48.74.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported ($3.58) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.44) by ($3.14). The company had revenue of $39.87 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $26.99 million. IonQ had a negative return on equity of 127.06% and a negative net margin of 1,836.32%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 221.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.24) EPS. IonQ has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at IonQ

In other IonQ news, Director William J. Teuber, Jr. bought 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $54.81 per share, for a total transaction of $109,620.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $351,496.53. The trade was a 45.32% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul T. Dacier sold 4,175 shares of IonQ stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.40, for a total value of $185,370.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 114,454 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,081,757.60. This represents a 3.52% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 213,622 shares of company stock valued at $9,620,896 in the last quarter. 5.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IonQ

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in IonQ by 18.5% in the 3rd 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 acquired a new stake in shares of IonQ in the second quarter valued at about $114,767,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of IonQ by 648.5% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Lansdowne Partners UK LLP increased its stake in shares of IonQ by 286.1% during the third quarter. Lansdowne Partners UK LLP now owns 1,937,031 shares of the company’s stock worth $119,127,000 after purchasing an additional 1,435,394 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its position in shares of IonQ by 19.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,299,559 shares of the company’s stock worth $387,423,000 after purchasing an additional 1,043,878 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.