IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Trading Down 8.5% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• IonQ's stock price fell 8.5% on Friday, trading as low as $70.64, with a notable increase in trading volume, up 66% from its average session.
• Analysts have mixed views on IonQ, with seven analysts rating it as a "Buy" and others downgrading their ratings, leading to a consensus "Hold" rating and an average price target of $58.33.
• The company reported a quarterly loss of ($0.70) EPS, significantly missing expectations, despite revenue growth of 81.6% year-over-year.

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ - Get Free Report) traded down 8.5% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $70.64 and last traded at $70.88. 39,519,367 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 66% from the average session volume of 23,850,973 shares. The stock had previously closed at $77.50.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on shares of IonQ from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, September 15th. DA Davidson lowered shares of IonQ from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $35.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Zacks Research lowered shares of IonQ from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Monday. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of IonQ in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. They set a "peer perform" rating for the company. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on shares of IonQ from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, September 15th. 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 stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $58.33.

IonQ Price Performance

The company's 50 day moving average price is $52.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.16. The firm has a market cap of $21.04 billion, a PE ratio of -35.26 and a beta of 2.60.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.70) 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.23 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.18) EPS. 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 Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IONQ. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 3,269,482 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in IonQ in the second quarter worth approximately $114,767,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 2,317,058 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in 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. acquired a new stake in IonQ during the second quarter worth approximately $36,705,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.42% of the company's stock.

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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