IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Shares Up 15.3% – Time to Buy?

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on IONQ. Craig Hallum increased 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 issued a $54.00 price target on shares of IonQ in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Benchmark cut their price target on IonQ from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on IonQ from $16.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, DA Davidson raised IonQ to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $44.80.

IonQ Stock Up 17.7 %

The company has a market capitalization of $5.61 billion, a PE ratio of -31.06 and a beta of 2.50. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $34.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 1,407 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.20, for a total value of $29,828.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now directly owns 592,615 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,563,438. This represents a 0.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Thomas G. Kramer sold 11,712 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 944,510 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,539,550.70. The trade was a 1.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 2,033,166 shares of company stock worth $38,059,593. Company insiders own 11.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of IonQ by 1,310.9% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,468,160 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,095,000 after buying an additional 2,293,231 shares during the period. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC purchased a new position in shares of IonQ during the fourth quarter worth $32,060,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of IonQ during the fourth quarter worth $29,519,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new position in shares of IonQ during the fourth quarter worth $29,513,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of IonQ by 439.3% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 857,078 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,800,000 after buying an additional 698,146 shares during the period. 41.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.