IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Shares Gap Down on Insider Selling

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock had previously closed at $16.74, but opened at $15.76. IonQ shares last traded at $16.66, with a volume of 3,629,516 shares changing hands.

Specifically, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 22,875 shares of IonQ stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.75, for a total value of $406,031.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now directly owns 592,658 shares in the company, valued at $10,519,679.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 12,000 shares of IonQ stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.72, for a total transaction of $188,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now owns 615,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,676,178.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Benchmark reduced their price target on shares of IonQ from $16.00 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of IonQ from $11.50 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $13.00 price target on shares of IonQ in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Craig Hallum cut their target price on shares of IonQ from $21.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th.

IonQ Stock Performance

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $9.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $8.57.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.18) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by $0.04. The company had revenue of $11.38 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.66 million. IonQ had a negative net margin of 525.13% and a negative return on equity of 34.02%. The firm’s revenue was up 106.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.16) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On IonQ

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Verity Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in IonQ by 12.4% in the 3rd quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc. now owns 33,898 shares of the company’s stock worth $296,000 after acquiring an additional 3,736 shares in the last quarter. PDS Planning Inc acquired a new stake in IonQ during the 3rd quarter worth $101,000. Ground Swell Capital LLC acquired a new stake in IonQ during the 3rd quarter worth $110,000. Yong Rong HK Asset Management Ltd acquired a new stake in IonQ during the 3rd quarter worth $3,749,000. Finally, Impact Partnership Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in IonQ during the 3rd quarter worth $89,000. 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.