IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Stock Price Down 2.9% on Insider Selling

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) dropped 2.9% during mid-day trading on Friday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $40.51 and last traded at $40.89. Approximately 4,313,063 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 22,133,244 shares. The stock had previously closed at $42.11.

Specifically, CFO Thomas G. Kramer sold 64,578 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.82, for a total value of $2,700,651.96. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 473,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,793,489.64. This trade represents a 12.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Analyst Ratings Changes

IONQ has been the topic of several research reports. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of IonQ in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating on shares of IonQ in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of IonQ in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of IonQ in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $45.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities initiated coverage on shares of IonQ in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $70.00 price target on the stock. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, IonQ currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.78.

IonQ Price Performance

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.54. The company has a market capitalization of $12.40 billion, a PE ratio of -20.79 and a beta of 2.54.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.70) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.13) by ($0.57). IonQ had a negative return on equity of 67.11% and a negative net margin of 885.21%.The firm had revenue of $20.69 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.23 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.18) earnings per share. IonQ’s revenue for the quarter was up 81.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IonQ

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of IonQ by 15.2% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,767,446 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,064,257,000 after acquiring an additional 3,269,482 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of IonQ in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $114,767,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of IonQ by 648.5% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,674,348 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,917,000 after acquiring an additional 2,317,058 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of IonQ by 262.8% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 576,391 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,768,000 after acquiring an additional 930,490 shares during the period. Finally, Amazon Com Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of IonQ in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $36,705,000. 41.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.