IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Stock Price Down 8.4% – Time to Sell?

Shares of IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) fell 8.4% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $40.96 and last traded at $41.0760. 16,722,724 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 33% from the average session volume of 25,023,014 shares. The stock had previously closed at $44.86.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on IONQ shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded IonQ from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research report on Friday. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of IonQ from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of IonQ in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley set a $49.00 price target on shares of IonQ in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Wedbush started coverage on shares of IonQ in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $75.00 price objective on the stock. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.92.

IonQ Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $15.65 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.81 and a beta of 3.28. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $44.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $43.21.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported ($0.33) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.56) by $0.23. IonQ had a negative return on equity of 22.29% and a negative net margin of 553.27%.The company had revenue of $80.05 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $66.47 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.70) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 286.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that IonQ, Inc. will post -2.86 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John W. Raymond sold 3,815 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.01, for a total transaction of $209,863.15. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 80,148 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,408,941.48. This represents a 4.54% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kathryn K. Chou sold 2,757 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.02, for a total value of $151,690.14. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 62,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,444,692.16. This trade represents a 4.22% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 9,329 shares of company stock worth $513,216. Corporate insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of IonQ

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in IONQ. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of IonQ by 5,901.1% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 28,318,821 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,508,260,000 after buying an additional 27,846,924 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of IonQ in the second quarter worth approximately $1,112,945,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in IonQ during the second quarter valued at approximately $344,757,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in IonQ by 18.5% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of IonQ during the 4th quarter worth $199,753,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.42% of the company’s stock.

IonQ Company Profile

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.