IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Trading Up 15.3% - Should You Buy?

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ - Get Free Report)'s stock price shot up 15.3% during trading on Friday . The stock 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 Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on IONQ shares. Craig Hallum raised their price target on shares of IonQ from $22.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on IonQ from $16.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. DA Davidson upgraded IonQ to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and set a $54.00 price objective on shares of IonQ in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Benchmark lowered their target price on shares of IonQ from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $44.80.

IonQ Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $5.42 billion, a P/E ratio of -30.08 and a beta of 2.50. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.00.

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Insider Activity at IonQ

In other news, Director William F. Scannell purchased 93,066 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $21.81 per share, for a total transaction of $2,029,769.46. Following the purchase, the director now owns 135,047 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,945,375.07. The trade was a 221.69 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Thomas G. Kramer sold 11,712 shares of IonQ stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 944,510 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $17,539,550.70. This trade represents a 1.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,033,166 shares of company stock worth $38,059,593. 11.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of IonQ

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in IonQ by 1,310.9% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,468,160 shares of the company's stock valued at $103,095,000 after acquiring an additional 2,293,231 shares in the last quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC bought a new position in shares of IonQ in the fourth quarter worth $32,060,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of IonQ in the fourth quarter worth $29,519,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new stake in IonQ during the fourth quarter valued at $29,513,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.42% of the company's stock.

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.