IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Stock Price Up 5.6% – What’s Next?

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ)’s share price shot up 5.6% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $22.55 and last traded at $22.32. 10,102,765 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 30% from the average session volume of 14,525,365 shares. The stock had previously closed at $21.14.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on IONQ. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on IonQ from $16.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Craig Hallum upped their target price on IonQ from $22.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $54.00 target price on shares of IonQ in a report on Thursday, February 27th. DA Davidson raised IonQ to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Benchmark reduced their target price on IonQ from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. One research 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 data from MarketBeat.com, IonQ currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $44.80.

IonQ Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $4.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -27.18 and a beta of 2.50. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $26.17.

Insider Transactions at IonQ

In related news, CFO Thomas G. Kramer sold 11,712 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.57, for a total value of $217,491.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 944,510 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Peter Hume Chapman sold 2,000,000 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the insider now owns 414,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,756,875.36. This represents a 82.84 % 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 over the last 90 days. 11.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of IonQ during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in IonQ by 421.0% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 501 shares during the last quarter. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. acquired a new position in IonQ during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. acquired a new position in IonQ during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in IonQ during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 41.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About IonQ

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.