IonQ Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:IONQ)

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) was the target of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders purchased 19,060 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 72% compared to the typical daily volume of 11,110 call options.

IonQ Stock Performance

Shares of IONQ stock opened at $12.31 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $8.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $8.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.60 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.83 and a beta of 2.05. IonQ has a 52-week low of $6.22 and a 52-week high of $15.49.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.18) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.22) by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $11.38 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.66 million. IonQ had a negative net margin of 525.13% and a negative return on equity of 34.02%. The business’s revenue was up 106.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.16) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that IonQ will post -0.84 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 9,159 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.72, for a total value of $98,184.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now directly owns 648,783 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,954,953.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 11.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IonQ

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of IonQ by 1,598.7% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 2,084,625 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,825,000 after acquiring an additional 1,961,909 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in IonQ by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,824,996 shares of the company’s stock valued at $188,062,000 after purchasing an additional 918,265 shares in the last quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel purchased a new stake in shares of IonQ in the 3rd quarter worth $5,036,000. Gagnon Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of IonQ during the 1st quarter worth $2,410,000. Finally, Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of IonQ by 126.7% during the first quarter. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. now owns 357,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,566,000 after buying an additional 199,500 shares during the period. 41.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on IONQ shares. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $13.00 price objective on shares of IonQ in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Craig Hallum cut their target price on IonQ from $21.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Benchmark lowered their price target on IonQ from $16.00 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of IonQ from $11.50 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $12.00.

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.