Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ:RGTI) Shares Up 1.8% – Here’s Why

Rigetti Computing, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGTI)’s stock price shot up 1.8% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $20.09 and last traded at $19.45. 61,882,243 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 104% from the average session volume of 30,284,494 shares. The stock had previously closed at $19.11.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on RGTI. TD Cowen downgraded Rigetti Computing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Rigetti Computing in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Wedbush lifted their target price on Rigetti Computing from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Benchmark lowered their target price on Rigetti Computing from $35.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Rigetti Computing from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.70.

Rigetti Computing Trading Up 1.9%

The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.85. The company has a market capitalization of $6.58 billion, a PE ratio of -29.13 and a beta of 1.82.

Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ:RGTI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 4th. The company reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.05) by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.87 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.33 million. Rigetti Computing had a negative return on equity of 14.91% and a negative net margin of 3,111.92%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Rigetti Computing, Inc. will post -0.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Rigetti Computing

In other news, CFO Jeffrey A. Bertelsen sold 4,270 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.52, for a total value of $74,810.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 175,609 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,076,669.68. This trade represents a 2.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CTO David Rivas sold 36,719 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.52, for a total value of $643,316.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 651,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,421,533.28. This represents a 5.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 1.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Rigetti Computing

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Rigetti Computing by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,970,648 shares of the company’s stock worth $796,750,000 after purchasing an additional 3,924,171 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Rigetti Computing by 12.0% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,853,006 shares of the company’s stock worth $104,997,000 after purchasing an additional 946,850 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Rigetti Computing by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,879,325 shares of the company’s stock worth $174,930,000 after purchasing an additional 196,891 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG raised its holdings in Rigetti Computing by 90.9% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,081,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $91,788,000 after purchasing an additional 1,467,483 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Rigetti Computing by 16.3% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,846,095 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,785,000 after purchasing an additional 397,905 shares during the last quarter. 35.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.