Needham & Company LLC Reiterates Buy Rating for IonQ (NYSE:IONQ)

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by equities researchers at Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $50.00 price objective on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective points to a potential upside of 28.90% from the company’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on IONQ. DA Davidson decreased their price target on shares of IonQ from $50.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of IonQ from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Benchmark increased their target price on shares of IonQ from $40.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $40.00.

IonQ Price Performance

IonQ stock opened at $38.79 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.64 billion, a PE ratio of -47.89 and a beta of 2.59. The company’s 50-day moving average is $32.86 and its 200-day moving average is $33.32. IonQ has a fifty-two week low of $6.22 and a fifty-two week high of $54.74.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.14) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.28) by $0.14. The company had revenue of $7.57 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.51 million. IonQ had a negative net margin of 457.85% and a negative return on equity of 36.82%. IonQ’s revenue for the quarter was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.19) EPS. As a group, analysts expect that IonQ will post -0.86 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at IonQ

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IonQ

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in IonQ in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. ORG Partners LLC increased its position in IonQ by 348.0% in the 1st quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 1,120 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 870 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of IonQ by 421.0% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 620 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 501 shares during the period. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of IonQ during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of IonQ during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. 41.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About IonQ

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.