Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ:RGTI) Shares Up 2.6% – Time to Buy?

Shares of Rigetti Computing, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGTI) shot up 2.6% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $15.05 and last traded at $14.68. 17,217,437 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 40% from the average session volume of 28,934,055 shares. The stock had previously closed at $14.31.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on RGTI shares. Royal Bank Of Canada downgraded Rigetti Computing to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Wedbush boosted their price objective on Rigetti Computing from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Rigetti Computing in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. They set a “hold” rating and a $30.00 price objective for the company. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on Rigetti Computing from $51.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Rigetti Computing in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.70.

Rigetti Computing Stock Up 2.6%

The company has a 50-day moving average price of $16.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $25.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -21.59 and a beta of 1.82.

Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ:RGTI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 4th. The company reported ($0.03) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.05) by $0.02. Rigetti Computing had a negative return on equity of 14.91% and a negative net margin of 3,111.92%.The business had revenue of $1.87 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.33 million. Rigetti Computing’s quarterly revenue was down 17.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Rigetti Computing, Inc. will post -0.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Rigetti Computing

In related news, CTO David Rivas sold 36,719 shares of the business’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 transaction of $643,316.88. Following the sale, the chief technology officer owned 651,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,421,533.28. The trade was a 5.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Jeffrey A. Bertelsen sold 4,270 shares of the business’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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 175,609 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,076,669.68. The trade was a 2.37% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 1.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Rigetti Computing

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in RGTI. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Rigetti Computing by 40.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,046,477 shares of the company’s stock valued at $954,665,000 after buying an additional 9,228,888 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Rigetti Computing by 1,632.5% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,571,289 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,954,000 after buying an additional 2,422,873 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Rigetti Computing in the second quarter valued at $21,887,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Rigetti Computing in the fourth quarter valued at $38,889,000. Finally, Clear Street Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Rigetti Computing in the third quarter valued at $47,752,000. Institutional investors 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.