IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Shares Down 8.3% Following Insider Selling

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) shares dropped 8.3% during trading on Monday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $45.18 and last traded at $46.1550. Approximately 22,219,123 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 8% from the average daily volume of 24,246,316 shares. The stock had previously closed at $50.35.

Specifically, Director Kathryn K. Chou sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.40, for a total transaction of $1,028,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 60,839 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,127,124.60. This represents a 24.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Analyst Ratings Changes

IONQ has been the subject of a number of research reports. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on shares of IonQ from $70.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Mizuho began coverage on IonQ in a research note on Thursday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $90.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley increased their target price 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. assumed coverage on IonQ in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $47.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Benchmark increased their price objective on IonQ from $55.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.18.

IonQ Trading Down 8.3%

The company has a fifty day moving average price of $56.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $49.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.63 and a beta of 2.62.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of IONQ. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. grew its holdings in shares of IonQ by 28.4% in the second quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 1,008 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares during the period. Hilltop National Bank raised its stake in IonQ by 112.5% during the third quarter. Hilltop National Bank now owns 425 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in IonQ by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,679 shares of the company’s stock valued at $349,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. Lauer Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of IonQ by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Lauer Wealth LLC now owns 4,852 shares of the company’s stock valued at $298,000 after buying an additional 255 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of IonQ by 11.8% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,480 shares of the company’s stock worth $153,000 after buying an additional 261 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.