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

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on IonQ from $13.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Benchmark boosted their price target on IonQ from $12.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on IonQ from $16.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Craig Hallum boosted 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. Finally, DA Davidson started 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 analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, IonQ presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $33.00.

IonQ Trading Down 6.9 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $9.12 billion, a P/E ratio of -52.05 and a beta of 2.43. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $36.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $19.27.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). IonQ had a negative return on equity of 36.82% and a negative net margin of 457.85%. The firm had revenue of $12.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.56 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.22) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 102.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at IonQ

In related news, CEO Peter Hume Chapman sold 13,106 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 414,363 shares in the company, valued at $12,319,011.99. This represents a 3.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 21,337 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.73, for a total transaction of $634,349.01. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now owns 571,321 shares in the company, valued at $16,985,373.33. This represents a 3.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 67,098 shares of company stock valued at $1,720,683 over the last three months. 11.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Carnegie Investment Counsel bought a new stake in shares of IonQ in the 3rd quarter valued at about $5,036,000. Yong Rong HK Asset Management Ltd bought a new stake in IonQ in the third quarter valued at approximately $3,749,000. Main Management ETF Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in IonQ during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,865,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in IonQ by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,420,152 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,640,000 after purchasing an additional 199,360 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of IonQ in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,631,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.