Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. Makes New Investment in IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ)

Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. bought a new position in shares of IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 4,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $209,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. PDS Planning Inc grew its position in IonQ by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 11,829 shares of the company’s stock worth $494,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Mariner LLC increased its stake in IonQ by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 54,479 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,276,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in IonQ by 15.2% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,753 shares of the company’s stock worth $116,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 501 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in IonQ in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. 41.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at IonQ

In related news, Director William F. Scannell bought 93,066 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $21.81 per share, for a total transaction of $2,029,769.46. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 135,047 shares in the company, valued at $2,945,375.07. This represents a 221.69% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 1,407 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.20, for a total transaction of $29,828.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now directly owns 592,615 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,563,438. This trade represents a 0.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 2,033,166 shares of company stock worth $38,059,593. 11.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

IonQ Stock Up 7.8%

IONQ stock opened at $35.06 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -43.29 and a beta of 2.46. IonQ, Inc. has a 52-week low of $6.22 and a 52-week high of $54.74. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.27.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.14) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.28) by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $7.57 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.19) earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on shares of IonQ from $54.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. DA Davidson reduced their target price on IonQ from $50.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Benchmark dropped their price target on IonQ from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on IonQ from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, IonQ currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $38.33.

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.