IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Trading Up 1.5% – Here’s Why

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) shares shot up 1.5% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $23.78 and last traded at $23.65. 6,399,051 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 56% from the average session volume of 14,410,908 shares. The stock had previously closed at $23.30.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

IonQ Trading Up 5.3 %

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $26.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.96 billion, a PE ratio of -27.47 and a beta of 2.50.

Insider Transactions at IonQ

In other news, Director William F. Scannell purchased 93,066 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $21.81 per share, for a total transaction of $2,029,769.46. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 135,047 shares in the company, valued at $2,945,375.07. The trade was a 221.69 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 1,407 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.20, for a total transaction of $29,828.40. Following the transaction, the executive now directly owns 592,615 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,563,438. This represents a 0.24 % 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 90 days. 11.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of IonQ

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of IONQ. PDS Planning Inc lifted its holdings in IonQ by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 11,829 shares of the company’s stock valued at $494,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Mariner LLC increased its holdings in shares of IonQ by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 54,479 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,276,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in shares of IonQ by 15.2% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,753 shares of the company’s stock valued at $116,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in IonQ by 73.2% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,136 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in IonQ by 421.0% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 620 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 501 shares during the period. 41.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.