IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Receives Buy Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC restated their buy rating on shares of IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) in a research report report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $54.00 target price on the stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Benchmark boosted their target price on shares of IonQ from $12.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Craig Hallum upped their price objective 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. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on IonQ from $16.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, DA Davidson upgraded IonQ to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.80.

IonQ Trading Down 16.8 %

Shares of NYSE:IONQ opened at $24.91 on Thursday. IonQ has a 12-month low of $6.22 and a 12-month high of $54.74. The business has a 50 day moving average of $38.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $24.63. The company has a market capitalization of $5.39 billion, a PE ratio of -30.75 and a beta of 2.41.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Peter Hume Chapman sold 13,106 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.73, for a total value of $389,641.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 414,363 shares in the company, valued at $12,319,011.99. This represents a 3.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Thomas G. Kramer sold 9,780 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.72, for a total value of $290,661.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 926,114 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,524,108.08. This represents a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 44,223 shares of company stock worth $1,314,652 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 11.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On IonQ

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Integrated Advisors Network LLC purchased a new stake in shares of IonQ in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $316,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of IonQ by 29.5% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 362,603 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,146,000 after purchasing an additional 82,499 shares during the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of IonQ during the 4th quarter worth $7,081,000. Virtus Fund Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of IonQ during the 4th quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of IonQ during the 4th quarter worth about $209,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.42% of the company’s stock.

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.