IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Shares Down 1.9% - Here's What Happened

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ - Get Free Report)'s stock price dropped 1.9% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $37.93 and last traded at $39.04. Approximately 5,963,734 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 74% from the average daily volume of 23,191,752 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.81.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IONQ has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on IonQ from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on IonQ from $54.00 to $50.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on IonQ from $50.00 to $35.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Benchmark reduced their price objective on IonQ from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, IonQ presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $38.33.

IonQ Stock Down 7.7%

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $30.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $32.93. The company has a market capitalization of $8.15 billion, a PE ratio of -45.15 and a beta of 2.59.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.14) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.28) by $0.14. The company had revenue of $7.57 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.51 million. IonQ had a negative return on equity of 36.82% and a negative net margin of 457.85%. IonQ's quarterly revenue was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.19) earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Peter Hume Chapman sold 2,000,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.72, for a total value of $37,440,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 414,363 shares in the company, valued at $7,756,875.36. The trade was a 82.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Thomas G. Kramer sold 11,712 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.57, for a total value of $217,491.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 944,510 shares of the company's stock, valued at $17,539,550.70. This trade represents a 1.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,031,759 shares of company stock worth $38,029,765 over the last three months. 5.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of IonQ

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of IonQ by 0.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,497,964 shares of the company's stock worth $474,460,000 after purchasing an additional 123,839 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of IonQ by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,466,094 shares of the company's stock worth $186,593,000 after purchasing an additional 45,942 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of IonQ by 1,310.9% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,468,160 shares of the company's stock worth $103,095,000 after purchasing an additional 2,293,231 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of IonQ by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,934,625 shares of the company's stock worth $80,809,000 after purchasing an additional 216,752 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of IonQ by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,645,672 shares of the company's stock worth $68,740,000 after purchasing an additional 31,638 shares in the last quarter. 41.42% of the stock is currently 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.