IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Stock Price Down 4.7% – Should You Sell?

Shares of IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) dropped 4.7% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $51.25 and last traded at $51.8850. Approximately 14,681,269 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 40% from the average daily volume of 24,317,990 shares. The stock had previously closed at $54.44.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of IonQ from $35.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Benchmark lifted their target price on shares of IonQ from $55.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on shares of IonQ from $70.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on IonQ in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $47.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Zacks Research raised IonQ from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.00.

IonQ Stock Performance

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $58.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.72. The company has a market capitalization of $18.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.70 and a beta of 2.62.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported ($3.58) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.44) by ($3.14). IonQ had a negative net margin of 1,836.32% and a negative return on equity of 127.06%. The company had revenue of $39.87 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.99 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.24) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 221.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Paul T. Dacier sold 4,175 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 value of $185,370.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 114,454 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,081,757.60. This represents a 3.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Robert T. Cardillo sold 8,773 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.52, for a total value of $443,211.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 37,436 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,891,266.72. This trade represents a 18.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 149,044 shares of company stock worth $6,920,244. 5.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IonQ

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of IonQ by 18.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,354,706 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,805,314,000 after acquiring an additional 4,587,260 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of IonQ during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $114,767,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in IonQ by 648.5% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,674,348 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,917,000 after buying an additional 2,317,058 shares in the last quarter. Lansdowne Partners UK LLP boosted its stake in IonQ by 286.1% in the 3rd quarter. Lansdowne Partners UK LLP now owns 1,937,031 shares of the company’s stock valued at $119,127,000 after buying an additional 1,435,394 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its position in IonQ by 19.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,299,559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $387,423,000 after acquiring an additional 1,043,878 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.