Stock Traders Buy High Volume of IonQ Call Options (NYSE:IONQ)

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Monday. Investors purchased 68,802 call options on the company. This is an increase of 63% compared to the average daily volume of 42,278 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on IONQ. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on IonQ from $13.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Benchmark lifted their target price on IonQ from $12.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Craig Hallum upped their price target on IonQ from $15.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th.

Insider Activity at IonQ

In related news, CFO Thomas G. Kramer sold 9,780 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.72, for a total value of $290,661.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 926,114 shares in the company, valued at $27,524,108.08. This represents a 1.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 9,159 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.72, for a total transaction of $98,184.48. Following the transaction, the executive now directly owns 648,783 shares in the company, valued at $6,954,953.76. The trade was a 1.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 110,223 shares of company stock valued at $2,286,983 in the last three months. 11.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IonQ

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in IonQ by 9.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,614,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,107,000 after buying an additional 135,851 shares during the period. Carnegie Investment Counsel purchased a new position in IonQ in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $5,036,000. Yong Rong HK Asset Management Ltd acquired a new position in IonQ during the third quarter worth $3,749,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its position in IonQ by 34.2% during the third quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 437,596 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,825,000 after purchasing an additional 111,435 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in IonQ in the third quarter valued at $1,631,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.42% of the company’s stock.

IonQ Stock Up 4.8 %

Shares of NYSE:IONQ opened at $43.84 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $23.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $13.40. IonQ has a 52 week low of $6.22 and a 52 week high of $43.94. The company has a market cap of $9.49 billion, a P/E ratio of -54.12 and a beta of 2.49.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.24) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.22) by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $12.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.56 million. IonQ had a negative net margin of 457.85% and a negative return on equity of 36.82%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 102.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.22) earnings per share. Analysts expect that IonQ will post -0.86 EPS for the current year.

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.