First Manhattan CO. LLC. Takes Position in IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ)

First Manhattan CO. LLC. acquired a new position in IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 177,525 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,415,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. PDS Planning Inc boosted its holdings in IonQ by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 11,829 shares of the company’s stock valued at $494,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Mariner LLC grew its stake in shares of IonQ by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 54,479 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,276,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in IonQ by 15.2% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,753 shares of the company’s stock worth $116,000 after acquiring an additional 363 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of IonQ by 73.2% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,136 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of IonQ by 421.0% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 501 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 41.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on IonQ from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on IonQ from $16.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Benchmark decreased their price target on shares of IonQ from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Needham & Company LLC cut their target price on shares of IonQ from $54.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their target price on IonQ from $50.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, IonQ currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.33.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Peter Hume Chapman sold 2,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.72, for a total value of $37,440,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 414,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,756,875.36. The trade was a 82.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Thomas G. Kramer sold 11,712 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.57, for a total value of $217,491.84. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 944,510 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,539,550.70. This represents a 1.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 2,033,166 shares of company stock valued at $38,059,593. 11.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

IonQ Trading Down 2.0 %

IONQ opened at $31.21 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $24.91 and its 200-day moving average is $30.47. The company has a market cap of $6.95 billion, a P/E ratio of -38.53 and a beta of 2.46. IonQ, Inc. has a 1-year low of $6.22 and a 1-year high of $54.74.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.14) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.28) by $0.14. The company had revenue of $7.57 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.51 million. IonQ had a negative net margin of 457.85% and a negative return on equity of 36.82%. IonQ’s revenue for the quarter was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.19) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 EPS for the current year.

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.