IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Stock Price Down 1.2% on Insider Selling

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ)’s stock price traded down 1.2% during trading on Monday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $37.55 and last traded at $39.86. 9,291,608 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 51% from the average session volume of 18,972,931 shares. The stock had previously closed at $40.36.

Specifically, insider Peter Hume Chapman sold 1,497,311 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.93, for a total value of $59,787,628.23. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 390,329 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,585,836.97. This represents a 79.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Peter Hume Chapman sold 3,581,193 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.13, for a total transaction of $136,550,889.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 390,329 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,883,244.77. This represents a 90.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In other news, insider Peter Hume Chapman sold 910,740 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.78, for a total value of $34,407,757.20. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 390,329 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,746,629.62. This represents a 70.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Benchmark upped their target price on shares of IonQ from $40.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of IonQ from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of IonQ in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. Finally, DA Davidson cut their target price on shares of IonQ from $50.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, IonQ presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.00.

IonQ Trading Down 0.6%

The stock has a market cap of $10.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -27.44 and a beta of 2.59. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $35.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $33.64.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.14) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.28) by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $7.57 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.51 million. IonQ had a negative net margin of 753.20% and a negative return on equity of 63.35%. IonQ’s quarterly revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.19) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of IonQ

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of IonQ by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,497,964 shares of the company’s stock worth $474,460,000 after acquiring an additional 123,839 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of IonQ by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,466,094 shares of the company’s stock worth $186,593,000 after acquiring an additional 45,942 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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 worth $103,095,000 after acquiring an additional 2,293,231 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of IonQ by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,934,625 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,809,000 after acquiring an additional 216,752 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of IonQ by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,645,672 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,740,000 after acquiring an additional 31,638 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.