IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Stock Price Up 1% – What’s Next?

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ)’s stock price shot up 1% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $24.12 and last traded at $22.91. 7,580,384 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 47% from the average session volume of 14,376,736 shares. The stock had previously closed at $22.68.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on IONQ. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of IonQ from $16.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Craig Hallum lifted their target price on shares of IonQ from $22.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Benchmark reduced their price objective on IonQ from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. DA Davidson raised IonQ to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $54.00 price target on shares of IonQ in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, IonQ presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.80.

IonQ Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $4.99 billion, a PE ratio of -27.64 and a beta of 2.50. The company has a 50 day moving average of $32.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $26.17.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other IonQ news, insider Peter Hume Chapman sold 2,000,000 shares of IonQ stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.72, for a total value of $37,440,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 1,407 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.20, for a total transaction of $29,828.40. Following the sale, the executive now directly owns 592,615 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,563,438. This trade represents a 0.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,033,166 shares of company stock worth $38,059,593 in the last three months. 11.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of IonQ

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in IonQ by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,374,125 shares of the company’s stock worth $892,797,000 after buying an additional 125,144 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in IonQ by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,466,094 shares of the company’s stock valued at $186,593,000 after buying an additional 45,942 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of IonQ by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,260,880 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,240,000 after buying an additional 75,596 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of IonQ by 1,310.9% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,468,160 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,095,000 after acquiring an additional 2,293,231 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in IonQ by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,934,625 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,809,000 after acquiring an additional 216,752 shares during the last quarter. 41.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.