DA Davidson Upgrades IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) to Strong-Buy

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) was upgraded by equities research analysts at DA Davidson to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

IONQ has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on IonQ from $13.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Craig Hallum increased their price objective on IonQ from $22.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of IonQ from $16.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Benchmark increased their price target on shares of IonQ from $12.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. One research 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $33.00.

IonQ Stock Down 1.2 %

IONQ stock opened at $33.73 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $39.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $23.85. IonQ has a 12-month low of $6.22 and a 12-month high of $54.74. The company has a market cap of $7.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -41.64 and a beta of 2.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other IonQ news, CEO Peter Hume Chapman sold 13,106 shares of the business’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 $389,641.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 414,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,319,011.99. The trade was a 3.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Thomas G. Kramer sold 9,780 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 926,114 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,524,108.08. This represents a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 44,223 shares of company stock worth $1,314,652. 11.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On IonQ

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in IonQ by 9.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,614,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,107,000 after purchasing an additional 135,851 shares during the period. Yong Rong HK Asset Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of IonQ in the third quarter valued at about $3,749,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its position in IonQ by 34.2% during the third quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 437,596 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,825,000 after buying an additional 111,435 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in IonQ during the third quarter valued at about $1,631,000. Finally, Prospera Financial Services Inc raised its holdings in IonQ by 196.1% in the 3rd quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 38,508 shares of the company’s stock valued at $337,000 after acquiring an additional 25,502 shares in the last quarter. 41.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.