IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $38.54, but opened at $40.01. IonQ shares last traded at $38.71, with a volume of 3,008,207 shares changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on IONQ. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of IonQ from $16.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. 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. DA Davidson started coverage on shares of IonQ in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. Benchmark boosted their price target 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. Finally, Craig Hallum increased their price objective on IonQ from $22.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $33.00.

IonQ Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $8.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -48.93 and a beta of 2.43. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $38.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.54.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last issued its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $12.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.56 million. IonQ had a negative return on equity of 36.82% and a negative net margin of 457.85%. IonQ’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 earned ($0.22) earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Thomas G. Kramer sold 9,780 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.72, for a total transaction of $290,661.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 926,114 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,524,108.08. This represents a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 21,337 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.73, for a total transaction of $634,349.01. Following the transaction, the executive now owns 571,321 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,985,373.33. The trade was a 3.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 44,223 shares of company stock worth $1,314,652 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of IonQ

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IONQ. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 135,851 shares during the last quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel purchased a new position in shares of IonQ during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $5,036,000. Yong Rong HK Asset Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of IonQ during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,749,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased 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 worth $3,825,000 after buying an additional 111,435 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of IonQ in the third quarter worth $1,631,000. 41.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.