IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Trading 15.3% Higher – Still a Buy?

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ)’s stock price shot up 15.3% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $25.11 and last traded at $24.65. 17,276,973 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 22% from the average session volume of 14,145,638 shares. The stock had previously closed at $21.37.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped 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. DA Davidson raised shares of IonQ to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. 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. Benchmark lowered their target price on shares of IonQ from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Craig Hallum upped their price target on IonQ from $22.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $44.80.

IonQ Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $25.61. The firm has a market cap of $5.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -30.84 and a beta of 2.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other IonQ news, Director William F. Scannell bought 93,066 shares of IonQ stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $21.81 per share, with a total value of $2,029,769.46. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 135,047 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,945,375.07. This trade represents a 221.69 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 20,047 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.57, for a total transaction of $372,272.79. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now directly owns 572,568 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,632,587.76. The trade was a 3.38 % 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 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 11.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IonQ

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in IONQ. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of IonQ by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,374,125 shares of the company’s stock worth $892,797,000 after acquiring an additional 125,144 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in IonQ by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,466,094 shares of the company’s stock valued at $186,593,000 after purchasing an additional 45,942 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake 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 worth $37,240,000 after buying an additional 75,596 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of IonQ by 1,310.9% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,468,160 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,095,000 after buying an additional 2,293,231 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in IonQ by 12.6% in the 4th 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 period. 41.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.