Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ:RGTI) Shares Up 1.1% – Here’s Why

Rigetti Computing, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGTI)’s share price shot up 1.1% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $19.37 and last traded at $18.62. 19,268,397 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 42% from the average session volume of 32,953,578 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.42.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Rigetti Computing from $33.00 to $27.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $18.00 target price on shares of Rigetti Computing in a report on Friday, August 7th. Northland Securities assumed coverage on shares of Rigetti Computing in a research note on Monday, April 20th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $20.00 target price for the company. Benchmark began coverage on shares of Rigetti Computing in a report on Monday, July 27th. They set a “buy” rating and a $25.00 target price for the company. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $31.00 price target on shares of Rigetti Computing in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $30.67.

Rigetti Computing Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $17.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $17.87. The stock has a market cap of $6.19 billion, a PE ratio of -20.69 and a beta of 1.99.

Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ:RGTI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.05) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.05). Rigetti Computing had a negative return on equity of 17.82% and a negative net margin of 2,189.54%.The firm had revenue of $5.14 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.09 million. Analysts expect that Rigetti Computing, Inc. will post -0.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Rigetti Computing news, CFO Jeffrey A. Bertelsen sold 3,682 shares of Rigetti Computing stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.95, for a total transaction of $84,501.90. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 171,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,945,724.65. The trade was a 2.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director Ray O. Johnson sold 84,944 shares of Rigetti Computing stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.55, for a total transaction of $1,745,599.20. Following the transaction, the director owned 95,537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,963,285.35. The trade was a 47.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 728,901 shares of company stock worth $17,546,343 over the last 90 days. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Rigetti Computing

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of RGTI. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Rigetti Computing by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,970,648 shares of the company’s stock valued at $796,750,000 after purchasing an additional 3,924,171 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Rigetti Computing by 1,632.5% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,571,289 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,954,000 after buying an additional 2,422,873 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Rigetti Computing in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $21,887,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Rigetti Computing during the 4th quarter valued at $38,889,000. Finally, Defiance ETFs LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Rigetti Computing during the 4th quarter valued at $34,267,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 35.38% of the company’s stock.

About Rigetti Computing

Rigetti Computing is a pioneering quantum computing company that designs and manufactures superconducting quantum processors alongside a complementary software stack. Founded in 2013 by CEO Chad Rigetti, the company has developed end-to-end quantum systems—from cryogenic hardware to control electronics—to advance the performance and scalability of quantum machines.

At the core of Rigetti’s offering is its Quantum Cloud Services (QCS) platform, which enables developers and enterprises to access quantum processing units (QPUs) and hybrid quantum-classical workflows via the cloud.