IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Shares Down 2% - Should You Sell?

Key Points

• IonQ's stock price fell 2% to $41.16 on Wednesday, with trading volume down 57% compared to its average.
• Analysts have a mixed outlook, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a price target averaging at $45.00.
• Recent insider selling saw significant positions liquidated, with one executive reducing their stake by 79.32%.

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ - Get Free Report)'s stock price dropped 2% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $40.78 and last traded at $41.16. Approximately 9,751,289 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 57% from the average daily volume of 22,920,453 shares. The stock had previously closed at $42.02.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on IONQ shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of IonQ from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on shares of IonQ in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $45.00 target price for the company. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of IonQ in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. They issued an "outperform" rating for the company. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of IonQ in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. They issued a "peer perform" rating for the company. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of IonQ in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. They set a "market perform" rating for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $45.00.

IonQ Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $10.77 billion, a P/E ratio of -27.61 and a beta of 2.54. The business's fifty day moving average price is $41.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $34.31.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.14) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.28) by $0.14. IonQ had a negative return on equity of 63.35% and a negative net margin of 753.20%. The company had revenue of $7.57 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.51 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.19) earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 45,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.18, for a total transaction of $2,078,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive owned 552,592 shares of the company's stock, valued at $25,518,698.56. This trade represents a 7.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Peter Hume Chapman sold 1,497,311 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.93, for a total transaction of $59,787,628.23. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 390,329 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,585,836.97. This trade represents a 79.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 9,191,850 shares of company stock worth $360,519,930. 5.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of IonQ

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in IonQ by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,497,964 shares of the company's stock valued at $474,460,000 after purchasing an additional 123,839 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in IonQ by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,934,625 shares of the company's stock valued at $80,809,000 after purchasing an additional 216,752 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in IonQ by 34.9% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,139,217 shares of the company's stock valued at $48,952,000 after purchasing an additional 294,881 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its position in IonQ by 101.4% in the 1st quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 927,760 shares of the company's stock valued at $20,476,000 after purchasing an additional 467,084 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in IonQ by 439.3% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 857,078 shares of the company's stock valued at $35,800,000 after purchasing an additional 698,146 shares during the period. 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.

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