IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Trading 1.5% Higher – Time to Buy?

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on IONQ shares. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $54.00 target price on shares of IonQ in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. DA Davidson raised shares of IonQ to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on IonQ from $16.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Craig Hallum upped their price objective on IonQ from $22.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Benchmark dropped their target price on IonQ from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $44.80.

IonQ Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $4.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -26.28 and a beta of 2.50. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $32.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.21.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Peter Hume Chapman sold 2,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.72, for a total transaction of $37,440,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 414,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,756,875.36. This trade represents a 82.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction 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 business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 944,510 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,539,550.70. This represents a 1.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,033,166 shares of company stock worth $38,059,593 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 11.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. LMR Partners LLP bought a new position in IonQ during the third quarter worth $874,000. Prospera Financial Services Inc boosted its position in shares of IonQ by 196.1% during the 3rd quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 38,508 shares of the company’s stock valued at $337,000 after purchasing an additional 25,502 shares in the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. bought a new position in IonQ during the third quarter worth $92,000. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of IonQ during the 3rd quarter worth about $381,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of IonQ by 9.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,614,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,107,000 after purchasing an additional 135,851 shares during the period. 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.