IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Shares Down 5.8% - Time to Sell?

Key Points

• IonQ's share price fell 5.8% to $73.02, with a significant trading volume increase of 28% from the average daily volume.
• Analysts have mixed ratings on IonQ, with seven "buy", five "hold", and two "sell" ratings; the stock has a consensus average price target of $58.33.
• Insider selling has been notable, with CEO Masi Niccolo De selling 16,120 shares at an average price of $44.40, indicating decreased confidence among top executives.

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ - Get Free Report)'s share price dropped 5.8% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $70.80 and last traded at $73.02. Approximately 30,940,208 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 28% from the average daily volume of 24,079,781 shares. The stock had previously closed at $77.55.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IONQ has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of IonQ in a report on Monday, September 15th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of IonQ in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. They issued an "outperform" rating for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on shares of IonQ from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, September 15th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of IonQ in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of IonQ from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, September 15th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $58.33.

IonQ Stock Performance

The company's fifty day moving average is $54.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.38. The company has a market cap of $21.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -36.33 and a beta of 2.60.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.70) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by ($0.57). IonQ had a negative return on equity of 67.11% and a negative net margin of 885.21%.The business had revenue of $20.69 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.23 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.18) EPS. IonQ's quarterly revenue was up 81.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Masi Niccolo De sold 16,120 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.40, for a total transaction of $715,728.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,181,186 shares in the company, valued at $52,444,658.40. This trade represents a 1.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Thomas G. Kramer sold 64,578 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.82, for a total value of $2,700,651.96. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 473,302 shares in the company, valued at $19,793,489.64. This trade represents a 12.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 178,876 shares of company stock worth $7,930,390. Corporate insiders own 5.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IONQ. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in IonQ by 780.1% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,461 shares of the company's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 1,295 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of IonQ by 116.7% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,462 shares of the company's stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 1,326 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of IonQ by 60.2% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 12,818 shares of the company's stock worth $283,000 after acquiring an additional 4,818 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its holdings in shares of IonQ by 32.4% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 27,476 shares of the company's stock worth $606,000 after acquiring an additional 6,717 shares during the period. Finally, Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of IonQ by 91.5% during the 1st quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 9,385 shares of the company's stock worth $207,000 after acquiring an additional 4,485 shares during the period. 41.42% of the stock is 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.

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