IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Receives Buy Rating from Needham & Company LLC

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by equities research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $54.00 price target on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 80.43% from the company’s previous close.

IONQ has been the subject of a number of other reports. Craig Hallum upped their target price on shares of IonQ from $22.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Benchmark upped their target price on shares of IonQ from $12.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of IonQ from $16.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, DA Davidson raised shares of IonQ to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.20.

IonQ Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:IONQ opened at $29.93 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.63. IonQ has a one year low of $6.22 and a one year high of $54.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -36.95 and a beta of 2.41.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other IonQ news, CEO Peter Hume Chapman sold 13,106 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.73, for a total transaction of $389,641.38. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 414,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,319,011.99. This represents a 3.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Thomas G. Kramer sold 9,780 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.72, for a total transaction of $290,661.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 926,114 shares in the company, valued at $27,524,108.08. The trade was a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 44,223 shares of company stock valued at $1,314,652 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. PDS Planning Inc grew its position in IonQ by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 11,829 shares of the company’s stock worth $494,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Mariner LLC grew its position in 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 buying an additional 350 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP grew its position in 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 buying an additional 363 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in 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 buying an additional 480 shares during the period. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of IonQ by 421.0% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 501 shares during the last quarter. 41.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.