IonQ’s (IONQ) Buy Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC restated their buy rating on shares of IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) in a research report report published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $80.00 price objective on the stock.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on shares of IonQ in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $47.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on IonQ in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $100.00 target price on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on IonQ from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $100.00 price target on shares of IonQ in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of IonQ in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $75.91.

IonQ Price Performance

Shares of IonQ stock opened at $43.29 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $48.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $51.38. IonQ has a 1 year low of $17.88 and a 1 year high of $84.64. The company has a market capitalization of $15.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.09 and a beta of 2.63.

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 analyst estimates of $26.99 million. IonQ had a negative net margin of 1,836.32% and a negative return on equity of 127.06%. IonQ’s revenue for the quarter was up 221.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.24) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that IonQ will post -0.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other IonQ news, Director Kathryn K. Chou sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.00, for a total transaction of $275,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 60,839 shares in the company, valued at $3,346,145. This trade represents a 7.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.89, for a total value of $4,689,000.00. Following the sale, the executive owned 432,616 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,285,364.24. The trade was a 18.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 125,000 shares of company stock valued at $5,992,000 over the last 90 days. 5.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On IonQ

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in IonQ by 18.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,774,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,560,343,000 after buying an additional 5,420,037 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of IonQ during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $114,767,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in IonQ by 648.5% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,674,348 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,917,000 after acquiring an additional 2,317,058 shares during the last quarter. Lansdowne Partners UK LLP increased its stake in IonQ by 286.1% in the third quarter. Lansdowne Partners UK LLP now owns 1,937,031 shares of the company’s stock valued at $119,127,000 after acquiring an additional 1,435,394 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its position in IonQ by 19.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,299,559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $387,423,000 after purchasing an additional 1,043,878 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 41.42% of the company’s stock.

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. 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.