Craig Hallum Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Stock

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) had its target price raised by equities research analysts at Craig Hallum from $22.00 to $45.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Craig Hallum’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 1.31% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on IONQ. Benchmark upped their price target on shares of IonQ from $12.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on IonQ from $13.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, DA Davidson assumed coverage on IonQ in a report on Thursday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $28.60.

IonQ Stock Performance

Shares of IonQ stock opened at $44.42 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $25.74 and a 200-day moving average of $14.03. IonQ has a 52-week low of $6.22 and a 52-week high of $47.41. The stock has a market cap of $9.61 billion, a PE ratio of -54.84 and a beta of 2.49.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.24) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $12.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.56 million. IonQ had a negative return on equity of 36.82% and a negative net margin of 457.85%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 102.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.22) earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that IonQ will post -0.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at IonQ

In other news, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 9,159 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.72, for a total value of $98,184.48. Following the transaction, the executive now owns 648,783 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,954,953.76. This trade represents a 1.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Thomas G. Kramer sold 9,780 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.72, for a total transaction of $290,661.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 926,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,524,108.08. This represents a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 110,223 shares of company stock valued at $2,286,983 over the last three months. 11.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IonQ

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its holdings in IonQ by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 49,550 shares of the company’s stock worth $348,000 after purchasing an additional 1,731 shares in the last quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of IonQ by 12.4% in the third quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc. now owns 33,898 shares of the company’s stock worth $296,000 after buying an additional 3,736 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of IonQ by 29.3% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 18,938 shares of the company’s stock worth $166,000 after acquiring an additional 4,288 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC grew its stake in IonQ by 4,824.2% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 6,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 6,368 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in IonQ by 40.6% in the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 26,801 shares of the company’s stock valued at $188,000 after acquiring an additional 7,744 shares during 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.