IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Shares Down 6.5% – Should You Sell?

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ)’s stock price dropped 6.5% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $22.79 and last traded at $23.30. Approximately 8,153,730 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 43% from the average daily volume of 14,317,611 shares. The stock had previously closed at $24.93.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on IONQ. Craig Hallum lifted their target price on shares of IonQ from $22.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. DA Davidson raised IonQ to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $54.00 price objective on shares of IonQ in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on IonQ from $16.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Benchmark lowered their price target on IonQ from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.80.

IonQ Trading Down 3.4 %

The stock has a market cap of $5.37 billion, a P/E ratio of -29.64 and a beta of 2.50. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.12.

Insider Activity

In other IonQ news, Director William F. Scannell acquired 93,066 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $21.81 per share, for a total transaction of $2,029,769.46. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 135,047 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,945,375.07. This represents a 221.69 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 1,407 shares of IonQ stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.20, for a total value of $29,828.40. Following the sale, the executive now directly owns 592,615 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,563,438. This trade represents a 0.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,033,166 shares of company stock valued at $38,059,593 over the last three months. 11.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of IonQ

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of IONQ. Integrated Advisors Network LLC bought a new stake in IonQ in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $316,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of IonQ by 29.5% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 362,603 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,146,000 after buying an additional 82,499 shares in the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in IonQ during the 4th quarter worth $7,081,000. Virtus Fund Advisers LLC bought a new position in IonQ during the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. acquired a new position in IonQ in the fourth quarter valued at about $209,000. 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.