IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 39,300,000 shares, a drop of 6.7% from the October 15th total of 42,140,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 12,810,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.1 days. Approximately 21.2% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

IonQ Price Performance

IONQ stock opened at $25.23 on Tuesday. IonQ has a one year low of $6.22 and a one year high of $29.48. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $13.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.73.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last issued its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $12.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.56 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.22) EPS. IonQ’s revenue for the quarter was up 102.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that IonQ will post -0.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 9,875 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 638,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,488,001.76. This trade represents a 1.52 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 66,000 shares of company stock worth $972,331. 11.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IonQ

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of IonQ by 5.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,824,996 shares of the company’s stock valued at $188,062,000 after acquiring an additional 918,265 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of IonQ by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,420,152 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,640,000 after buying an additional 199,360 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of IonQ by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,260,880 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,240,000 after buying an additional 75,596 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of IonQ by 27.3% in the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 2,654,531 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,661,000 after acquiring an additional 569,906 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in IonQ by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,614,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,107,000 after acquiring an additional 135,851 shares during the period. 41.42% of the stock is 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.