Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ:RGTI) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Rigetti Computing, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGTI) shares gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $10.26, but opened at $10.63. Rigetti Computing shares last traded at $10.25, with a volume of 7,765,373 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on RGTI. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $14.00 target price on shares of Rigetti Computing in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. B. Riley raised their target price on Rigetti Computing from $8.50 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Craig Hallum began coverage on Rigetti Computing in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $12.00 target price for the company. Alliance Global Partners reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Rigetti Computing in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $17.00 target price on shares of Rigetti Computing in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $14.50.

Rigetti Computing Stock Down 3.3 %

The company has a quick ratio of 4.84, a current ratio of 4.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $10.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $6.34. The stock has a market cap of $2.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -26.12 and a beta of 1.36.

Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ:RGTI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 5th. The company reported ($0.08) EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.08). Rigetti Computing had a negative return on equity of 51.56% and a negative net margin of 509.58%. The firm had revenue of $2.27 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.40 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.04) earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Rigetti Computing, Inc. will post -0.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Rigetti Computing

In related news, CTO David Rivas sold 351,785 shares of Rigetti Computing stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.76, for a total transaction of $2,729,851.60. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 1,094,738 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,495,166.88. The trade was a 24.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 2.81% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Rigetti Computing by 81.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,746,361 shares of the company’s stock valued at $179,249,000 after buying an additional 5,280,128 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Rigetti Computing by 7,367.2% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,580,317 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,896,000 after acquiring an additional 4,518,978 shares during the period. Penserra Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Rigetti Computing by 9.8% during the third quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 4,553,633 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,565,000 after acquiring an additional 407,389 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Rigetti Computing by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,850,220 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,767,000 after acquiring an additional 228,391 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Rigetti Computing by 12.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,715,223 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,126,000 after acquiring an additional 309,831 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 35.38% of the company’s stock.

About Rigetti Computing

Rigetti Computing, Inc, through its subsidiaries, builds quantum computers and the superconducting quantum processors. The company offers cloud in a form of quantum processing unit, such as 9-qubit chip and Ankaa-2 system under the Novera brand name; and sells access to its quantum computers through quantum computing as a service.