IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Trading Down 8.6% – Should You Sell?

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ)’s share price was down 8.6% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $41.88 and last traded at $41.40. Approximately 12,981,518 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 72% from the average daily volume of 45,737,039 shares. The stock had previously closed at $45.31.

Analyst Ratings Changes

IONQ has been the subject of several analyst reports. Benchmark upped their target price on IonQ from $12.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of IonQ from $13.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Craig Hallum lifted 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. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target 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, DA Davidson assumed coverage on shares of IonQ in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price target on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.00.

IonQ Stock Down 1.2 %

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $19.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -50.44 and a beta of 2.43.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.24) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $12.40 million during 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 102.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.22) EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other IonQ news, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 21,337 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $16,985,373.33. This represents a 3.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Peter Hume Chapman sold 13,106 shares of the firm’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 $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. The trade was a 3.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 67,098 shares of company stock worth $1,720,683 in the last ninety days. 11.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in IonQ by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,420,152 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,640,000 after acquiring an additional 199,360 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of IonQ by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,260,880 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,240,000 after purchasing an additional 75,596 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of IonQ by 9.2% in the third 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. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of IonQ by 7.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 612,625 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,354,000 after purchasing an additional 41,125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Carnegie Investment Counsel acquired a new stake in shares of IonQ during the third quarter worth $5,036,000. 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.