IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Trading Down 7.2% – Here’s Why

Shares of IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) were down 7.2% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $44.02 and last traded at $45.3430. Approximately 18,604,444 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 29% from the average daily volume of 26,370,463 shares. The stock had previously closed at $48.87.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of IonQ in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of IonQ from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 13th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $85.00 target price on shares of IonQ in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on IonQ from $42.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of IonQ from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, IonQ presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.88.

IonQ Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $16.93 billion, a P/E ratio of -161.94 and a beta of 3.23. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $55.58 and a 200-day moving average of $45.06.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported ($0.34) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.26) by ($0.08). IonQ had a negative return on equity of 23.20% and a net margin of 174.88%.The business had revenue of $64.67 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.75 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.14) EPS. IonQ’s revenue for the quarter was up 754.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that IonQ, Inc. will post -2.26 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at IonQ

In other news, insider Robert T. Cardillo sold 3,773 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.90, for a total value of $188,272.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 139,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,984,353.30. This trade represents a 2.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John W. Raymond sold 3,815 shares of IonQ stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.01, for a total value of $209,863.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 80,148 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,408,941.48. This trade represents a 4.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 13,102 shares of company stock valued at $701,489 over the last 90 days. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IONQ. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of IonQ by 18.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,774,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,560,343,000 after buying an additional 5,420,037 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of IonQ by 42.3% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,962,789 shares of the company’s stock valued at $402,160,000 after acquiring an additional 2,663,230 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of IonQ by 21.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,074,301 shares of the company’s stock valued at $361,624,000 after acquiring an additional 1,452,463 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in IonQ during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $199,753,000. Finally, Marex Group plc increased its holdings in IonQ by 419.1% during the 4th quarter. Marex Group plc now owns 4,083,453 shares of the company’s stock worth $183,225,000 after acquiring an additional 3,296,866 shares during the period. 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. It also provides contracts associated with the design, development, and construction of specialized quantum computing hardware systems; maintenance and support services; and consulting services related to co-developing algorithms on quantum computing systems.