IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Shares Down 5.5% – Time to Sell?
by Michael Walen · The Markets DailyIonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ – Get Free Report) traded down 5.5% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $42.16 and last traded at $43.2870. 21,994,726 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 8% from the average session volume of 20,291,439 shares. The stock had previously closed at $45.80.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several equities research analysts have issued reports on IONQ shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on IonQ from $32.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on shares of IonQ in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $47.00 price objective on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of IonQ in a report on Tuesday. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of IonQ in a report on Thursday, December 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $90.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of IonQ in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $100.00 price objective for the company. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $75.91.
View Our Latest Analysis on IonQ
IonQ Price Performance
The stock has a 50-day moving average of $48.54 and a 200-day moving average of $51.44. The firm has a market cap of $15.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.09 and a beta of 2.63.
IonQ (NYSE:IONQ – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported ($3.58) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.99 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.24) earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 221.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Insider Activity
In other news, Director William J. Teuber, Jr. acquired 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $54.81 per share, with a total value of $109,620.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 6,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $351,496.53. The trade was a 45.32% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kathryn K. Chou sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.40, for a total value of $1,028,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 60,839 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,127,124.60. The trade was a 24.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 125,000 shares of company stock worth $5,992,000. 5.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in IONQ. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in IonQ by 18.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,774,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,560,343,000 after buying an additional 5,420,037 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of IonQ in the 2nd quarter valued at $114,767,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of IonQ by 648.5% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,674,348 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,917,000 after acquiring an additional 2,317,058 shares in the last quarter. Lansdowne Partners UK LLP grew its position in IonQ by 286.1% during the 3rd quarter. Lansdowne Partners UK LLP now owns 1,937,031 shares of the company’s stock worth $119,127,000 after acquiring an additional 1,435,394 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its position in IonQ by 19.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,299,559 shares of the company’s stock worth $387,423,000 after acquiring an additional 1,043,878 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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. 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.