IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $100.00 target price on the stock.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of IonQ from $32.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Benchmark increased their target price on shares of IonQ from $55.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Wedbush started coverage on IonQ in a research note on Wednesday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $60.00 price target for the company. Mizuho assumed coverage on IonQ in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $90.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of IonQ in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.00.

IonQ Price Performance

IONQ stock opened at $50.20 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $17.44 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.40 and a beta of 2.62. IonQ has a 12 month low of $17.88 and a 12 month high of $84.64. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $55.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.91.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported ($3.58) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.44) by ($3.14). The business had revenue of $39.87 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $26.99 million. IonQ had a negative return on equity of 127.06% and a negative net margin of 1,836.32%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 221.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.24) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that IonQ will post -0.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at IonQ

In related news, Director Kathryn K. Chou sold 20,000 shares of IonQ stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.40, for a total transaction of $1,028,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 60,839 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,127,124.60. This trade represents a 24.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.89, for a total value of $4,689,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive directly owned 432,616 shares in the company, valued at $20,285,364.24. This trade represents a 18.78% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 5.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On IonQ

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in IonQ by 18.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,354,706 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,805,314,000 after acquiring an additional 4,587,260 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of IonQ in the 2nd quarter valued at $114,767,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of IonQ by 648.5% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,674,348 shares of the company’s stock worth $114,917,000 after purchasing an additional 2,317,058 shares during the period. Lansdowne Partners UK LLP increased its position in shares of IonQ by 286.1% during the 3rd quarter. Lansdowne Partners UK LLP now owns 1,937,031 shares of the company’s stock worth $119,127,000 after purchasing an additional 1,435,394 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in IonQ by 19.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,299,559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $387,423,000 after buying an additional 1,043,878 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.42% of the company’s stock.

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.