IonQ Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:IONQ)

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

IonQ Stock Performance

Shares of IONQ stock opened at $43.84 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -54.12 and a beta of 2.49. IonQ has a one year low of $6.22 and a one year high of $43.94. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $23.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $13.40.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.24) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.22) by ($0.02). IonQ had a negative return on equity of 36.82% and a negative net margin of 457.85%. The firm had revenue of $12.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.56 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.22) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 102.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that IonQ will post -0.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Buying and Selling at IonQ

In related news, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 9,875 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.72, for a total value of $115,735.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now owns 638,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,488,001.76. The trade was a 1.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Peter Hume Chapman sold 13,106 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.73, for a total transaction of $389,641.38. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 414,363 shares in the company, valued at $12,319,011.99. This represents a 3.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 110,223 shares of company stock valued at $2,286,983 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 11.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IonQ

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of IONQ. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of IonQ in the third quarter worth $91,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in IonQ by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,420,152 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,640,000 after purchasing an additional 199,360 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in IonQ in the third quarter valued at about $1,631,000. Main Management ETF Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of IonQ during the third quarter worth about $1,865,000. Finally, Zacks Investment Management boosted its position in shares of IonQ by 10.0% in the third quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 154,701 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,352,000 after buying an additional 14,072 shares during the period. 41.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.