IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Shares Up 9.2% – Time to Buy?

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ)’s stock price traded up 9.2% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $34.65 and last traded at $34.1750. 21,448,501 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 1% from the average session volume of 21,172,113 shares. The stock had previously closed at $31.30.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of IonQ in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Wedbush initiated coverage on shares of IonQ in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $60.00 price objective on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on IonQ in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $100.00 target price on the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of IonQ from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of IonQ in a research report on Monday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $75.91.

IonQ Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $11.87 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.39 and a beta of 2.63. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $46.12 and a 200 day moving average of $50.81.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Kathryn K. Chou sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.40, for a total value of $1,028,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 60,839 shares in the company, valued at $3,127,124.60. The trade was a 24.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.89, for a total value of $4,689,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive owned 432,616 shares in the company, valued at $20,285,364.24. The trade was a 18.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 125,000 shares of company stock valued at $5,992,000 over the last quarter. 5.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of IonQ by 18.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,774,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,560,343,000 after purchasing an additional 5,420,037 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in IonQ in the 4th quarter valued at $199,753,000. Marex Group plc lifted its stake in IonQ by 419.1% during the 4th quarter. Marex Group plc now owns 4,083,453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $183,225,000 after acquiring an additional 3,296,866 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in IonQ by 42.3% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,962,789 shares of the company’s stock valued at $402,160,000 after acquiring an additional 2,663,230 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in IonQ by 648.5% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,674,348 shares of the company’s stock worth $114,917,000 after acquiring an additional 2,317,058 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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. It also provides contracts associated with the design, development, and construction of specialized quantum computing hardware systems; maintenance and support services; and consulting services related to co-developing algorithms on quantum computing systems.