IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Stock Price Down 3% – What’s Next?

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) shares fell 3% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $38.46 and last traded at $40.53. 9,175,397 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 15% from the average session volume of 10,735,969 shares. The stock had previously closed at $41.77.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on IONQ shares. Benchmark upped their price objective on shares of IonQ from $12.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. DA Davidson initiated coverage on IonQ in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price target for the company. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of IonQ from $13.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Craig Hallum increased their price target on shares of IonQ from $22.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock 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 issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, IonQ currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $28.60.

IonQ Price Performance

The firm’s 50 day moving average is $30.70 and its 200 day moving average is $16.06. The firm has a market cap of $8.79 billion, a P/E ratio of -50.12 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). The company had revenue of $12.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.56 million. IonQ had a negative return on equity of 36.82% and a negative net margin of 457.85%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 102.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.22) EPS. As a group, analysts expect that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at IonQ

In other IonQ news, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 22,875 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.75, for a total value of $406,031.25. Following the transaction, the executive now owns 592,658 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,519,679.50. This represents a 3.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Thomas G. Kramer sold 9,780 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.72, for a total transaction of $290,661.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 926,114 shares in the company, valued at $27,524,108.08. This trade represents a 1.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 110,223 shares of company stock worth $2,286,983. 11.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of IonQ

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in IonQ by 4.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,420,152 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,640,000 after buying an additional 199,360 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 75,596 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 2nd 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 IonQ by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 612,625 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,354,000 after acquiring an additional 41,125 shares during the last quarter. 41.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.