Short Interest in IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) Decreases By 13.1%

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 23,650,000 shares, a decline of 13.1% from the January 15th total of 27,230,000 shares. Approximately 12.6% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 30,920,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.8 days.

IonQ Stock Performance

Shares of IONQ traded down $2.01 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $31.74. 15,538,743 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 27,498,943. IonQ has a 1-year low of $6.22 and a 1-year high of $54.74. The company has a 50 day moving average of $39.93 and a 200-day moving average of $23.85. The stock has a market cap of $6.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -39.18 and a beta of 2.40.

Insider Activity

In other IonQ news, CFO Thomas G. Kramer sold 9,780 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.72, for a total value of $290,661.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 926,114 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $27,524,108.08. This represents a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 21,337 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.73, for a total transaction of $634,349.01. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now directly owns 571,321 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,985,373.33. The trade was a 3.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 44,223 shares of company stock valued at $1,314,652 over the last ninety days. 11.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of IonQ

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. PDS Planning Inc raised its holdings in IonQ by 2.6% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Mariner LLC increased its position in shares of IonQ by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 54,479 shares of the company's stock worth $2,276,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP increased its position in shares of IonQ by 15.2% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,753 shares of the company's stock worth $116,000 after acquiring an additional 363 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 480 shares during the period. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 501 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.42% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on IONQ shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of IonQ from $16.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. DA Davidson raised shares of IonQ to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of IonQ from $13.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Benchmark upped their price objective on shares of IonQ from $12.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Craig Hallum upped their price objective on shares of IonQ from $22.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, December 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $33.00.

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.