IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Shares Down 3% – Should You Sell?

Shares of IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) fell 3% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $38.46 and last traded at $40.53. 9,175,397 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 15% from the average session volume of 10,735,969 shares. The stock had previously closed at $41.77.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on IONQ. 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 target price for the company. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on shares of IonQ from $13.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Craig Hallum increased their target price on IonQ from $22.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Benchmark lifted 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, IonQ has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $28.60.

IonQ Trading Up 10.8 %

The company has a market cap of $10.34 billion, a P/E ratio of -58.97 and a beta of 2.49. The company’s fifty day moving average is $31.87 and its 200 day moving average is $16.52.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.24) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.22) by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $12.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarterly revenue was up 102.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.22) earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Peter Hume Chapman sold 13,106 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.73, for a total transaction of $389,641.38. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 414,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,319,011.99. The trade was a 3.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 22,875 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.75, for a total value of $406,031.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now directly owns 592,658 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,519,679.50. The trade was a 3.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 110,223 shares of company stock valued at $2,286,983. 11.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IONQ. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 199,360 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in IonQ by 1.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,260,880 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,240,000 after buying an additional 75,596 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of IonQ by 9.2% during 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 buying an additional 135,851 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of IonQ by 16.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 916,536 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,443,000 after buying an additional 131,439 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of IonQ by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 612,625 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,354,000 after acquiring an additional 41,125 shares in the last quarter. 41.42% of the stock is currently 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.