IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Shares Down 3.5% – Should You Sell?

Shares of IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) dropped 3.5% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $44.50 and last traded at $46.56. Approximately 13,041,370 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 22% from the average daily volume of 10,646,715 shares. The stock had previously closed at $48.24.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on IONQ. Benchmark upped their price objective on IonQ from $12.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of IonQ from $13.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. DA Davidson initiated coverage on shares of IonQ in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Craig Hallum increased their target price on shares of IonQ from $22.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $28.60.

IonQ Trading Down 5.7 %

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $15.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.84 billion, a PE ratio of -56.15 and a beta of 2.49.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.24) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by ($0.02). IonQ had a negative net margin of 457.85% and a negative return on equity of 36.82%. The business had revenue of $12.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.56 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.22) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 102.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other IonQ news, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 21,337 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.73, for a total transaction of $634,349.01. Following the transaction, the executive now directly owns 571,321 shares in the company, valued at $16,985,373.33. This trade represents a 3.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Peter Hume Chapman sold 13,106 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.73, for a total value of $389,641.38. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 414,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,319,011.99. This trade represents a 3.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 110,223 shares of company stock worth $2,286,983 in the last quarter. 11.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IonQ

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of IonQ by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,420,152 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,640,000 after buying an additional 199,360 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in IonQ by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,260,880 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,240,000 after acquiring an additional 75,596 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in IonQ by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,614,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,107,000 after acquiring an additional 135,851 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in IonQ by 16.7% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 916,536 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,443,000 after acquiring an additional 131,439 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC grew its position in shares of IonQ by 7.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 612,625 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,354,000 after purchasing an additional 41,125 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.