IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) gapped up prior to trading on Friday after The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on the stock from $16.00 to $30.00. The stock had previously closed at $30.25, but opened at $31.99. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. IonQ shares last traded at $31.02, with a volume of 23,483,565 shares trading hands.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Benchmark boosted their price objective on shares of IonQ from $12.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. DA Davidson assumed coverage on shares of IonQ in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of IonQ from $13.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Craig Hallum upped their target price on shares of IonQ from $22.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $33.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at IonQ

In other IonQ news, CEO Peter Hume Chapman sold 13,106 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.73, for a total transaction of $389,641.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 414,363 shares in the company, valued at $12,319,011.99. This trade represents a 3.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 9,159 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.72, for a total transaction 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 109,507 shares of company stock valued at $2,279,308. Insiders own 11.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IonQ

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of IonQ by 9.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,614,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,107,000 after acquiring an additional 135,851 shares during the period. Carnegie Investment Counsel purchased a new stake in shares of IonQ in the third quarter valued at $5,036,000. Yong Rong HK Asset Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of IonQ in the third quarter valued at $3,749,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of IonQ by 34.2% in the third quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 437,596 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,825,000 after acquiring an additional 111,435 shares during the period. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of IonQ in the third quarter valued at $1,631,000. Institutional investors own 41.42% of the company’s stock.

IonQ Stock Up 7.4 %

The firm has a market cap of $7.03 billion, a PE ratio of -40.10 and a beta of 2.49. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $34.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.70.

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

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.