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

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors bought 42,889 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 61% compared to the average daily volume of 26,560 call options.

Insider Activity at IonQ

In related news, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 9,875 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.72, for a total transaction of $115,735.00. Following the sale, the executive now owns 638,908 shares in the company, valued at $7,488,001.76. The trade was a 1.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 66,000 shares of company stock valued at $972,331 in the last quarter. Insiders own 11.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of IonQ

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in IonQ by 4.0% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 36,495 shares of the company’s stock worth $365,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System grew its stake in shares of IonQ by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 49,550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $348,000 after buying an additional 1,731 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in IonQ by 10.5% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 29,427 shares of the company’s stock valued at $294,000 after buying an additional 2,805 shares in the last quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc. increased its position in IonQ by 12.4% in the 3rd quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc. now owns 33,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $296,000 after buying an additional 3,736 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC raised its stake in IonQ by 29.3% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 18,938 shares of the company’s stock worth $166,000 after buying an additional 4,288 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 41.42% of the company’s stock.

IonQ Price Performance

IONQ stock opened at $29.14 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $13.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.61. IonQ has a 1-year low of $6.22 and a 1-year high of $29.48.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.24) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $12.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.56 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.22) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 102.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that IonQ will post -0.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on IONQ. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of IonQ from $11.50 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 9th. Benchmark upped their price target on IonQ from $12.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on IonQ from $13.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Craig Hallum lifted their price objective on IonQ from $15.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th.

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.