IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Sees Strong Trading Volume After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) saw unusually-strong trading volume on Wednesday after Benchmark raised their price target on the stock from $40.00 to $50.00. Benchmark currently has a buy rating on the stock. Approximately 26,058,931 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 42% from the previous session’s volume of 18,368,626 shares.The stock last traded at $40.84 and had previously closed at $39.74.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on IonQ from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on IonQ from $54.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, DA Davidson reduced their target price on IonQ from $50.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $40.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Masi Niccolo De sold 9,280 shares of IonQ stock in a transaction on Monday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.23, for a total transaction of $391,894.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 711,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,067,211.01. The trade was a 1.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 5.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of IonQ

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in IonQ by 0.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,497,964 shares of the company’s stock worth $474,460,000 after buying an additional 123,839 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in IonQ by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,466,094 shares of the company’s stock worth $186,593,000 after purchasing an additional 45,942 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of IonQ by 1,310.9% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,468,160 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,095,000 after acquiring an additional 2,293,231 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of IonQ by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,934,625 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,809,000 after acquiring an additional 216,752 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in IonQ by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,645,672 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,740,000 after purchasing an additional 31,638 shares during the period. 41.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

IonQ Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $8.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -47.89 and a beta of 2.59. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $32.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $33.32.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.14) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.28) by $0.14. IonQ had a negative return on equity of 36.82% and a negative net margin of 457.85%. The company had revenue of $7.57 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.51 million. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.19) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 EPS for the current 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.