IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Shares Up 2.3% – Should You Buy?

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) shares shot up 2.3% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $25.56 and last traded at $25.13. 3,670,800 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 15,727,540 shares. The stock had previously closed at $24.57.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

IONQ has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Craig Hallum raised their price objective on IonQ from $22.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of IonQ in a report on Monday, March 31st. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $54.00 target price on shares of IonQ in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on IonQ from $16.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their target price on IonQ from $50.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, IonQ has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.80.

IonQ Stock Up 4.6 %

The business’s 50 day moving average is $26.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.73 billion, a P/E ratio of -31.73 and a beta of 2.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Thomas G. Kramer sold 11,712 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.57, for a total transaction of $217,491.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 944,510 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,539,550.70. This represents a 1.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Peter Hume Chapman sold 2,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.72, for a total value of $37,440,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 414,363 shares in the company, valued at $7,756,875.36. This trade represents a 82.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,033,166 shares of company stock worth $38,059,593 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On IonQ

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in IONQ. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in IonQ by 29.3% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 18,938 shares of the company’s stock worth $166,000 after acquiring an additional 4,288 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of IonQ by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,260,880 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,240,000 after acquiring an additional 75,596 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in IonQ by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,420,152 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,640,000 after buying an additional 199,360 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in IonQ by 1,348.5% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 956 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 890 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of IonQ by 73.2% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,136 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.