Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms Buy Rating for IonQ (NYSE:IONQ)

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by equities research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $54.00 target price on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 119.54% from the company’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on IONQ. Benchmark raised their price target on IonQ from $12.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of IonQ from $16.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Craig Hallum upped their price target 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. Finally, DA Davidson raised shares of IonQ to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $44.80.

IonQ Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of IonQ stock opened at $24.60 on Thursday. IonQ has a fifty-two week low of $6.22 and a fifty-two week high of $54.74. The business’s fifty day moving average is $38.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.76. The firm has a market cap of $5.32 billion, a PE ratio of -30.37 and a beta of 2.41.

Insider Activity at IonQ

In other news, CFO Thomas G. Kramer sold 9,780 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 926,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,524,108.08. This represents a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Peter Hume Chapman sold 13,106 shares of IonQ stock in a transaction on 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 owns 414,363 shares in the company, valued at $12,319,011.99. The trade was a 3.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 44,223 shares of company stock worth $1,314,652. Company insiders own 11.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On IonQ

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of IONQ. PDS Planning Inc boosted its holdings in IonQ by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 11,829 shares of the company’s stock worth $494,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Mariner LLC boosted its stake in shares of IonQ by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 54,479 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,276,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in IonQ by 15.2% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,753 shares of the company’s stock valued at $116,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in IonQ by 73.2% during the 4th 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 lifted its holdings in IonQ by 421.0% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 620 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 501 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.