Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of IonQ Put Options (NYSE:IONQ)

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) was the target of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock investors acquired 199,216 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 130% compared to the typical volume of 86,632 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

IONQ has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on IonQ from $42.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Northland Securities increased their price target on shares of IonQ from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of IonQ in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $85.00 target price on shares of IonQ in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of IonQ from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, IonQ has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.88.

IonQ Stock Down 0.9%

IONQ stock opened at $34.77 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $54.66 and a 200 day moving average of $44.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.98 billion, a PE ratio of -124.17 and a beta of 3.23. IonQ has a 52 week low of $25.89 and a 52 week high of $84.64.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported ($0.34) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.26) by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $64.67 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.75 million. IonQ had a net margin of 174.88% and a negative return on equity of 23.20%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 754.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.14) EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that IonQ will post -2.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at IonQ

In other IonQ news, Director Kathryn K. Chou sold 2,757 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.02, for a total transaction of $151,690.14. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 62,608 shares in the company, valued at $3,444,692.16. This represents a 4.22% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John W. Raymond sold 3,815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.01, for a total transaction of $209,863.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 80,148 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,408,941.48. This represents a 4.54% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 13,102 shares of company stock worth $701,489 over the last quarter. 0.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On IonQ

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of IonQ by 117.4% during the 3rd quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC increased its stake in IonQ by 171.8% during the fourth quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC now owns 587 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. Kelleher Financial Advisors purchased a new stake in IonQ in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its stake in shares of IonQ by 3,800.0% in the fourth quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 624 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 608 shares during the period. Finally, Banque Transatlantique SA purchased a new position in shares of IonQ in the 3rd quarter valued at about $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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. It also provides contracts associated with the design, development, and construction of specialized quantum computing hardware systems; maintenance and support services; and consulting services related to co-developing algorithms on quantum computing systems.