IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Trading 7.1% Higher – Should You Buy?

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) shares were up 7.1% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $25.47 and last traded at $24.83. Approximately 11,283,192 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 25% from the average daily volume of 15,083,839 shares. The stock had previously closed at $23.19.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on IONQ. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $54.00 price objective on shares of IonQ in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of IonQ from $16.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Craig Hallum boosted their price objective on shares of IonQ from $22.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. DA Davidson upgraded IonQ to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of IonQ in a research report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.80.

IonQ Stock Up 11.0 %

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.57 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.38. The stock has a market cap of $5.74 billion, a P/E ratio of -31.79 and a beta of 2.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director William F. Scannell acquired 93,066 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was acquired 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 directly owns 135,047 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,945,375.07. This trade represents a 221.69 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 20,047 shares of the firm’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 $372,272.79. Following the transaction, the executive now directly owns 572,568 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,632,587.76. This represents a 3.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,033,166 shares of company stock valued at $38,059,593 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 11.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On IonQ

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in IonQ by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,614,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,107,000 after purchasing an additional 135,851 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of IonQ by 34.2% in the 3rd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 437,596 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,825,000 after purchasing an additional 111,435 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of IonQ during the third quarter worth $1,631,000. State Street Corp raised its stake in IonQ by 1.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,260,880 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,240,000 after buying an additional 75,596 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in IonQ in the fourth quarter valued at $3,840,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.42% of the company’s stock.

IonQ Company Profile

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.