IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Stock Price Up 9% – Should You Buy?

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) shares shot up 9% on Friday . The company traded as high as $42.98 and last traded at $42.30. 8,665,948 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 35,792,809 shares. The stock had previously closed at $38.81.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on IONQ. DA Davidson started coverage on shares of IonQ in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 target price for the company. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of IonQ from $13.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Benchmark increased their price objective on shares of IonQ from $12.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Craig Hallum upped their target price on shares of IonQ from $22.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on IonQ from $16.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $33.00.

IonQ Trading Up 5.0 %

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $38.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $20.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.82 billion, a P/E ratio of -50.43 and a beta of 2.43.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.24) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $12.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.56 million. IonQ had a negative net margin of 457.85% and a negative return on equity of 36.82%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 102.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.22) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 21,337 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.73, for a total value of $634,349.01. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now owns 571,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,985,373.33. The trade was a 3.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Peter Hume Chapman sold 13,106 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.73, for a total value of $389,641.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 414,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,319,011.99. This represents a 3.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 44,223 shares of company stock worth $1,314,652 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of IONQ. Truist Financial Corp acquired a new position in shares of IonQ during the 4th quarter worth approximately $417,000. CIBC Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in IonQ during the fourth quarter worth $271,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in IonQ in the 4th quarter valued at $998,000. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D acquired a new stake in shares of IonQ in the 4th quarter worth $3,144,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in shares of IonQ by 15.2% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,753 shares of the company’s stock valued at $116,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares during the period. 41.42% of the stock is 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.