Benchmark Issues Pessimistic Forecast for IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Stock Price

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) had its price target cut by equities research analysts at Benchmark from $45.00 to $40.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Benchmark’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 40.75% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on IONQ. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on IonQ from $16.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. DA Davidson cut their target price on shares of IonQ from $50.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $54.00 price target on shares of IonQ in a report on Thursday, February 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $40.80.

IonQ Price Performance

Shares of IonQ stock opened at $28.42 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $6.33 billion, a PE ratio of -35.09 and a beta of 2.50. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $24.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.13. IonQ has a 1 year low of $6.22 and a 1 year high of $54.74.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other IonQ news, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 20,047 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.57, for a total transaction of $372,272.79. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now directly owns 572,568 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,632,587.76. The trade was a 3.38 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Peter Hume Chapman sold 2,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.72, for a total value of $37,440,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 414,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,756,875.36. This trade represents a 82.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 2,033,166 shares of company stock valued at $38,059,593. 11.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of IonQ by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,374,125 shares of the company’s stock worth $892,797,000 after acquiring an additional 125,144 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in IonQ by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,466,094 shares of the company’s stock worth $186,593,000 after purchasing an additional 45,942 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of IonQ by 1,310.9% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,468,160 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,095,000 after buying an additional 2,293,231 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of IonQ by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,934,625 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,809,000 after buying an additional 216,752 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of IonQ by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,645,672 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,740,000 after buying an additional 31,638 shares during the period. 41.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.