IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $22.68, but opened at $23.59. IonQ shares last traded at $23.04, with a volume of 3,123,892 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $54.00 price target on shares of IonQ in a report on Thursday, February 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of IonQ from $16.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. DA Davidson raised shares of IonQ to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Craig Hallum boosted their price target on shares of IonQ from $22.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Benchmark lowered their target price on shares of IonQ from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $44.80.

IonQ Stock Performance

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $32.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.23. The company has a market cap of $5.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -27.84 and a beta of 2.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 shares were sold at an average price of $18.72, for a total transaction of $37,440,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 414,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,756,875.36. The trade was a 82.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 1,407 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.20, for a total transaction of $29,828.40. Following the transaction, the executive now directly owns 592,615 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,563,438. The trade was a 0.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,033,166 shares of company stock valued at $38,059,593 in the last 90 days. 11.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. PDS Planning Inc lifted its position in IonQ by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 11,829 shares of the company’s stock valued at $494,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Mariner LLC lifted its position in IonQ by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 54,479 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,276,000 after buying an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in IonQ by 15.2% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,753 shares of the company’s stock valued at $116,000 after buying an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in IonQ by 73.2% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,136 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 480 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 501 shares during the last quarter. 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.