Traders Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on IonQ (NYSE:IONQ)

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Investors acquired 20,801 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 11% compared to the typical volume of 18,819 call options.

IonQ Stock Down 7.9 %

IonQ stock traded down $1.33 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $15.54. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 15,530,789 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,007,876. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.33 billion, a P/E ratio of -19.49 and a beta of 2.05. IonQ has a twelve month low of $6.22 and a twelve month high of $18.20. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $9.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $8.52.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.18) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $11.38 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.66 million. IonQ had a negative net margin of 525.13% and a negative return on equity of 34.02%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 106.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.16) earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that IonQ will post -0.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Benchmark reduced their price target on shares of IonQ from $16.00 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of IonQ from $11.50 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Craig Hallum reduced their price target on shares of IonQ from $21.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $13.00 price target on shares of IonQ in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd.

Insider Activity

In other news, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 9,159 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.72, for a total transaction of $98,184.48. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now directly owns 648,783 shares in the company, valued at $6,954,953.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold 66,000 shares of company stock worth $972,331 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IONQ. Carnegie Investment Counsel acquired a new position in IonQ in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $5,036,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in IonQ during the 3rd quarter valued at $152,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its stake in IonQ by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 36,495 shares of the company’s stock valued at $365,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL acquired a new stake in IonQ during the 1st quarter valued at $185,000. Finally, Swiss National Bank raised its stake in IonQ by 14.8% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 343,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,433,000 after purchasing an additional 44,200 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.42% of the company’s stock.

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.