IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Shares Down 8.7% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• IonQ shares fell 8.7% during mid-day trading, reaching a low of $53.08, with total trading volume down 13% from the average.
• Analysts have mixed ratings for IonQ, with seven holding a buy rating and a consensus target price of $61.44, while some have reduced their forecasts significantly.
• The company reported a net loss of $0.70 per share in its latest earnings, missing analyst expectations, despite a revenue increase of 81.6% year-over-year.

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ - Get Free Report) dropped 8.7% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $53.08 and last traded at $53.3180. Approximately 21,345,513 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 13% from the average daily volume of 24,479,461 shares. The stock had previously closed at $58.40.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IONQ has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. DA Davidson downgraded shares of IonQ from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $35.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of IonQ in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. They set a "market perform" rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of IonQ from $32.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday. B. Riley increased their price objective on shares of IonQ from $75.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, Benchmark increased their price objective on shares of IonQ from $55.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, IonQ has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $61.44.

IonQ Stock Performance

The business's fifty day simple moving average is $60.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.52 billion, a PE ratio of -26.53 and a beta of 2.60.

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

Insider Transactions at IonQ

In related news, insider Robert T. Cardillo sold 8,773 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.52, for a total value of $443,211.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 37,436 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,891,266.72. This trade represents a 18.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Masi Niccolo De sold 16,120 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.40, for a total transaction of $715,728.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,181,186 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $52,444,658.40. This trade represents a 1.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 131,398 shares of company stock valued at $5,665,690 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 5.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in IonQ by 15.2% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,767,446 shares of the company's stock worth $1,064,257,000 after buying an additional 3,269,482 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in IonQ by 15.2% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,338,456 shares of the company's stock worth $229,422,000 after buying an additional 705,301 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in IonQ by 15.1% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,255,681 shares of the company's stock worth $225,837,000 after buying an additional 688,663 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in IonQ by 648.5% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,674,348 shares of the company's stock worth $114,917,000 after buying an additional 2,317,058 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in IonQ during the second quarter worth $114,767,000. 41.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.

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