IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Stock Price Down 1.2% – Time to Sell?

Shares of IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) traded down 1.2% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $49.06 and last traded at $50.46. 13,854,183 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 36% from the average session volume of 21,757,223 shares. The stock had previously closed at $51.07.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IONQ has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Benchmark upped their price objective on IonQ from $12.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on IonQ from $13.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Craig Hallum increased their price target on IonQ from $22.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, DA Davidson began coverage on IonQ in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $28.60.

IonQ Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $11.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -62.84 and a beta of 2.43. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $32.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $16.96.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at IonQ

In other news, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 9,875 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.72, for a total transaction of $115,735.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now owns 638,908 shares in the company, valued at $7,488,001.76. This represents a 1.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Peter Hume Chapman sold 13,106 shares of IonQ stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.73, for a total transaction of $389,641.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 414,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,319,011.99. This trade represents a 3.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 110,223 shares of company stock worth $2,286,983. 11.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in IonQ by 16.7% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 916,536 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,443,000 after acquiring an additional 131,439 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of IonQ by 40.6% during the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 26,801 shares of the company’s stock worth $188,000 after purchasing an additional 7,744 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in shares of IonQ by 13.5% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 295,918 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,080,000 after purchasing an additional 35,158 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of IonQ by 3.6% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 49,550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $348,000 after purchasing an additional 1,731 shares during the period. Finally, Quest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in IonQ by 4,824.2% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 6,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 6,368 shares in the last quarter. 41.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.