IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Trading Down 4.2% – Should You Sell?

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ)’s share price traded down 4.2% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $20.90 and last traded at $20.91. 17,522,147 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 25% from the average session volume of 14,045,045 shares. The stock had previously closed at $21.82.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $54.00 price target on shares of IonQ in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Craig Hallum lifted their price target on IonQ from $22.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of IonQ from $16.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. DA Davidson raised shares of IonQ to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Benchmark cut their target price on shares of IonQ from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.80.

IonQ Price Performance

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $25.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.61 billion, a P/E ratio of -25.52 and a beta of 2.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other IonQ news, Director William F. Scannell bought 93,066 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $21.81 per share, with a total value of $2,029,769.46. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 135,047 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,945,375.07. This trade represents a 221.69 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 1,407 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.20, for a total value of $29,828.40. Following the transaction, the executive now directly owns 592,615 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,563,438. The trade was a 0.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 11.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On IonQ

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of IONQ. PDS Planning Inc grew its stake in IonQ by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 11,829 shares of the company’s stock worth $494,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Mariner LLC lifted its position in IonQ by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 54,479 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,276,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in IonQ by 15.2% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,753 shares of the company’s stock worth $116,000 after acquiring an additional 363 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in IonQ by 73.2% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,136 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares during the period. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of IonQ by 421.0% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 501 shares in the last quarter. 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.