First Manhattan CO. LLC. Makes New Investment in IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ)

First Manhattan CO. LLC. bought a new stake in IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 177,525 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,415,000. First Manhattan CO. LLC. owned 0.08% of IonQ at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. FORA Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of IonQ in the fourth quarter worth about $2,996,000. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in shares of IonQ by 79.4% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 213,911 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,935,000 after purchasing an additional 94,650 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in IonQ by 120.0% during the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 34,033 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,422,000 after buying an additional 18,566 shares during the period. Bosun Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in IonQ in the 4th quarter worth $458,000. Finally, Brevan Howard Capital Management LP purchased a new position in IonQ in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,188,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other IonQ news, Director William F. Scannell bought 93,066 shares of IonQ stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $21.81 per share, for a total transaction of $2,029,769.46. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 135,047 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,945,375.07. This represents a 221.69 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Thomas G. Kramer sold 11,712 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $17,539,550.70. This trade represents a 1.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 2,033,166 shares of company stock worth $38,059,593. 11.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

IonQ Price Performance

IONQ stock opened at $31.21 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $6.95 billion, a price-to-earnings 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. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $24.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.47.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.14) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.28) by $0.14. IonQ had a negative net margin of 457.85% and a negative return on equity of 36.82%. The company had revenue of $7.57 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.51 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.19) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 EPS for the current fiscal 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.