IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Shares Down 39% – Time to Sell?

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ)’s share price was down 39% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $25.92 and last traded at $30.27. Approximately 127,081,346 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 179% from the average daily volume of 45,574,754 shares. The stock had previously closed at $49.59.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

IonQ Stock Down 39.0 %

The company has a 50-day moving average of $33.46 and a 200 day moving average of $17.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.55 billion, a PE ratio of -37.37 and a beta of 2.43.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). IonQ had a negative return on equity of 36.82% and a negative net margin of 457.85%. The company had revenue of $12.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.56 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.22) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 102.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at IonQ

In other IonQ news, CEO Peter Hume Chapman sold 13,106 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.73, for a total value of $389,641.38. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 414,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,319,011.99. The trade was a 3.07 % 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, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 21,337 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.73, for a total transaction of $634,349.01. Following the sale, the executive now owns 571,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,985,373.33. This represents a 3.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 110,223 shares of company stock valued at $2,286,983 over the last 90 days. 11.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IonQ

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Carnegie Investment Counsel bought a new position in shares of IonQ in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $5,036,000. Yong Rong HK Asset Management Ltd bought a new position in IonQ in the third quarter worth $3,749,000. Main Management ETF Advisors LLC purchased a new position in IonQ during the third quarter valued at $1,865,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of IonQ by 4.7% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of IonQ in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,631,000. 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.