IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Shares Down 9.4% - Should You Sell?

Key Points

• IonQ shares fell by 9.4% to $65.59 following a downgrade by analysts, with trading volumes significantly higher than usual.
• Analysts have mixed reviews on IonQ, with seven rating it a Buy and others giving it a Strong Sell, setting an average target price of $58.33.
• CEO and other executives sold considerable amounts of stock recently, raising concerns about insider confidence, with totals exceeding $7.9 million in the last quarter.

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ - Get Free Report) traded down 9.4% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $65.50 and last traded at $65.59. 35,380,952 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 47% from the average session volume of 24,139,047 shares. The stock had previously closed at $72.41.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on IONQ. DA Davidson downgraded IonQ from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $35.00 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Zacks Research downgraded IonQ from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Wolfe Research began coverage on IonQ in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. They issued a "peer perform" rating for the company. Oppenheimer began coverage on IonQ in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. They issued an "outperform" rating for the company. Finally, B. Riley increased their price target on IonQ from $75.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $58.33.

IonQ Stock Performance

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $55.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.59. The company has a market cap of $19.47 billion, a P/E ratio of -32.63 and a beta of 2.60.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.70) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $20.69 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.23 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.18) EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 81.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at IonQ

In related news, CEO Masi Niccolo De sold 16,120 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,181,186 shares in the company, valued at $52,444,658.40. This represents a 1.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 19,976 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.40, for a total value of $886,934.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive directly owned 532,616 shares in the company, valued at $23,648,150.40. This represents a 3.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 178,876 shares of company stock worth $7,930,390 over the last quarter. 5.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On IonQ

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IONQ. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in IonQ by 15.2% in 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. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in IonQ in the second quarter worth $114,767,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in IonQ by 648.5% in 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. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in IonQ by 262.8% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 576,391 shares of the company's stock worth $24,768,000 after buying an additional 930,490 shares during the period. Finally, Amazon Com Inc. acquired a new stake in IonQ in the second quarter worth $36,705,000. 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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