IonQ Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:IONQ)

by · The Markets Daily

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ – Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders purchased 106,088 call options on the company. This is an increase of 40% compared to the average daily volume of 75,966 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on IONQ shares. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $75.00 target price on shares of IonQ in a research note on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings lowered IonQ from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Friday, August 21st. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price objective on shares of IonQ in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of IonQ in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of IonQ in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $64.18.

Read Our Latest Analysis on IONQ

Key IonQ News

Here are the key news stories impacting IonQ this week:

  • Positive Sentiment: IonQ demonstrated what it described as the industry’s first real-time quantum error decoder running on a single standard commodity CPU. The advance could reduce the hardware and processing burden associated with correcting quantum errors and improve the path toward scalable systems. IonQ shares rally after company says it made a major quantum computing breakthrough
  • Positive Sentiment: The company announced that its Superion 256 system will be used at an NVIDIA research center, adding credibility and visibility to IonQ’s hardware platform. The announcement followed the error-decoder news and helped fuel a broader rally in quantum-computing stocks. IonQ Surges 11% as NVIDIA Research Center Deal Follows Error-Decoder Breakthrough
  • Positive Sentiment: IonQ’s multi-year alliance with South Korea’s SDT is expanding beyond software integration. It includes a Superion 256 deployment, silicon-vacancy quantum memory, a planned hybrid quantum-classical data center and a Gumi facility for packaging, assembly and system integration—supporting the company’s Asia-Pacific commercialization strategy. IonQ and SDT Announce Strategic Partnership
  • Positive Sentiment: Research with Classiq and Israel Natural Gas Lines applied IonQ hardware to natural-gas transmission planning, while separate work with Synopsys reportedly showed potential engineering-simulation improvements of up to 14.6%. These developments provide additional evidence of potential enterprise use cases. Classiq, Israel Natural Gas Lines and IonQ Advance Quantum Optimization
  • Neutral Sentiment: The rally is occurring in a highly speculative quantum-computing sector, with elevated trading activity and strong momentum across peers including Rigetti and D-Wave. This improves near-term sentiment but may also increase volatility.
  • Negative Sentiment: IonQ remains unprofitable, and reports have highlighted substantial insider selling and prior shareholder dilution. The new technical milestones still need to translate into recurring revenue and commercially meaningful profits. Quantum Computing Stocks Face Insider-Selling Warning

IonQ Price Performance

Shares of NYSE IONQ traded up $2.46 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $43.20. 54,234,060 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 24,502,162. The company’s 50 day moving average is $39.26 and its 200 day moving average is $43.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.46 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.24 and a beta of 3.30. IonQ has a one year low of $25.89 and a one year high of $84.64.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported ($0.33) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.56) by $0.23. IonQ had a negative net margin of 553.27% and a negative return on equity of 22.29%. The firm had revenue of $80.05 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $66.47 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.70) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 286.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that IonQ will post -2.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at IonQ

In related news, insider John Raymond sold 2,407 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.21, for a total transaction of $89,564.47. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 77,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,892,742.61. The trade was a 3.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of IonQ

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bogart Wealth LLC boosted its position in IonQ by 24.4% in the first quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 1,273 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions grew its stake in IonQ by 2.5% during the first quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions now owns 12,314 shares of the company’s stock worth $355,000 after buying an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of IonQ by 26.1% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,491 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of IonQ by 22.9% during the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,725 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 321 shares in the last quarter. Finally, POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its stake in shares of IonQ by 14.9% in the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 2,861 shares of the company’s stock valued at $152,000 after acquiring an additional 370 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 41.42% of the company’s stock.

About IonQ

(Get Free Report)

IonQ, Inc is a quantum computing company that develops and commercializes quantum computers based on trapped-ion technology. Its systems are designed to perform specialized computations that may be difficult for classical computers, with potential applications in areas such as optimization, materials science, drug discovery, artificial intelligence and financial modeling.

The company provides access to its quantum processors through cloud platforms, including Amazon Web Services’ Amazon Braket, Microsoft Azure Quantum and Google Cloud.

See Also