IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Shares Down 4.7% on Insider Selling

Shares of IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) dropped 4.7% during mid-day trading on Tuesday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $51.15 and last traded at $51.3420. Approximately 15,116,731 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 37% from the average daily volume of 24,166,318 shares. The stock had previously closed at $53.86.

Specifically, Director Kathryn K. Chou sold 5,000 shares of IonQ stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.00, for a total value of $275,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 60,839 shares in the company, valued at $3,346,145. This trade represents a 7.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on IONQ. Benchmark raised their target price on shares of IonQ from $55.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on shares of IonQ from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of IonQ in a report on Thursday, November 20th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $47.00 target price for the company. Wedbush assumed coverage on shares of IonQ in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $60.00 target price for the company. Finally, B. Riley raised their price target on IonQ from $75.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.08.

IonQ Trading Down 3.1%

The firm has a market cap of $17.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.31 and a beta of 2.62. The company has a 50 day moving average of $52.66 and a 200 day moving average of $50.26.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of IonQ by 242.4% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 19,217 shares of the company’s stock worth $424,000 after acquiring an additional 13,604 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its holdings in IonQ by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 270,378 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,967,000 after purchasing an additional 12,577 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in IonQ during the 1st quarter worth about $4,434,000. Kestra Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of IonQ by 38.1% in the 1st quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 57,918 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,278,000 after purchasing an additional 15,986 shares during the period. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC lifted its holdings in shares of IonQ by 25.5% in the first quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 4,810 shares of the company’s stock valued at $106,000 after purchasing an additional 977 shares in 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. It also provides contracts associated with the design, development, and construction of specialized quantum computing hardware systems; maintenance and support services; and consulting services related to co-developing algorithms on quantum computing systems.