IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Shares Up 10% – Should You Buy?

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) shares traded up 10% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $24.62 and last traded at $24.27. 12,107,130 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 51% from the average session volume of 24,679,998 shares. The stock had previously closed at $22.07.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

IONQ has been the topic of several recent research reports. Craig Hallum increased their price target 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 reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $54.00 target price on shares of IonQ in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of IonQ from $16.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. DA Davidson raised shares of IonQ to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of IonQ in a research note on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.80.

IonQ Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.59 billion, a P/E ratio of -30.99 and a beta of 2.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other IonQ news, CFO Thomas G. Kramer sold 11,712 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.57, for a total transaction of $217,491.84. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 944,510 shares in the company, valued at $17,539,550.70. This represents a 1.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 1,407 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.20, for a total transaction of $29,828.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now owns 592,615 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,563,438. This represents a 0.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,033,166 shares of company stock valued at $38,059,593 over the last quarter. 11.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On IonQ

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Integrated Advisors Network LLC bought a new position in IonQ in the fourth quarter worth about $316,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of IonQ by 29.5% during the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 82,499 shares in the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in IonQ in the 4th quarter worth approximately $7,081,000. Virtus Fund Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in IonQ during the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. acquired a new position in IonQ during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $209,000. 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.