IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Trading Down 3.6% - Should You Sell?

Key Points

• IonQ's stock price dropped 3.6% to $39.74, with trading volume significantly lower than average, indicating a potential decline in investor interest.
• Despite the stock's recent performance, analyst ratings indicate a moderate buy consensus, with a target price set at $45.00.
• IonQ reported a larger-than-expected loss of ($0.70) EPS in its latest quarterly earnings, although its revenue rose by 81.6% year-over-year to $20.69 million.

Shares of IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ - Get Free Report) traded down 3.6% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $39.85 and last traded at $39.74. 6,051,152 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 74% from the average session volume of 22,977,281 shares. The stock had previously closed at $41.21.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Benchmark boosted their price objective on IonQ from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Rosenblatt Securities assumed coverage on IonQ in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on IonQ in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. They issued a "market perform" rating for the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on IonQ from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on IonQ in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. They issued a "peer perform" rating for the company. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $45.00.

IonQ Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $10.53 billion, a PE ratio of -20.01 and a beta of 2.54. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $41.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $34.37.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.70) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.23 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.18) earnings per share. IonQ's quarterly revenue was up 81.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Peter Hume Chapman sold 1,497,311 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.93, for a total value 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 represents a 79.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Thomas G. Kramer sold 17,776 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.28, for a total value of $733,793.28. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 537,880 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,203,686.40. The trade was a 3.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 9,209,626 shares of company stock valued at $361,253,723. Insiders own 5.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of IonQ

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of IONQ. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 3,269,482 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of IonQ during the second quarter worth about $114,767,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,317,058 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of IonQ by 262.8% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 576,391 shares of the company's stock worth $24,768,000 after purchasing an additional 930,490 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amazon Com Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of IonQ during the second quarter worth about $36,705,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.