IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Shares Down 3.8% – Here’s What Happened

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ)’s share price was down 3.8% on Friday . The company traded as low as $51.13 and last traded at $52.70. Approximately 17,364,533 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 29% from the average daily volume of 24,441,734 shares. The stock had previously closed at $54.76.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

IONQ has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on shares of IonQ in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $47.00 price objective for the company. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on IonQ from $70.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of IonQ in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on IonQ from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of IonQ from $32.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, IonQ currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $66.00.

IonQ Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $18.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.85 and a beta of 2.62. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $58.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $49.27.

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

Insider Transactions at IonQ

In related news, CEO Masi Niccolo De sold 16,120 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.40, for a total value of $715,728.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,181,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,444,658.40. The trade was a 1.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.89, for a total value of $4,689,000.00. Following the sale, the executive directly owned 432,616 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,285,364.24. The trade was a 18.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 149,044 shares of company stock valued at $6,920,244. Insiders own 5.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On IonQ

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in IonQ by 36.1% in the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 5,971 shares of the company’s stock valued at $367,000 after acquiring an additional 1,585 shares in the last quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd boosted its position in shares of IonQ by 101.4% during the third quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 11,925 shares of the company’s stock worth $733,000 after buying an additional 6,005 shares during the period. Strategic Advocates LLC grew its holdings in shares of IonQ by 2.9% during the third quarter. Strategic Advocates LLC now owns 49,763 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,060,000 after buying an additional 1,409 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its position in IonQ by 24.7% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 3,763 shares of the company’s stock valued at $231,000 after buying an additional 746 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. acquired a new position in IonQ during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,814,000. 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.