IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Shares Down 1.5% Following Analyst Downgrade

Shares of IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) traded down 1.5% during trading on Tuesday after DA Davidson lowered their price target on the stock from $50.00 to $35.00. DA Davidson currently has a buy rating on the stock. IonQ traded as low as $24.94 and last traded at $24.97. 3,821,385 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 15,697,794 shares. The stock had previously closed at $25.35.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on IONQ. Craig Hallum raised their target price on shares of IonQ from $22.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $54.00 price objective on shares of IonQ in a report on Thursday, February 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on IonQ from $16.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of IonQ in a research report on Monday, March 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Thomas G. Kramer sold 11,712 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.57, for a total transaction of $217,491.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 944,510 shares in the company, valued at $17,539,550.70. The trade was a 1.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 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 transaction of $37,440,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 414,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,756,875.36. This trade represents a 82.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,033,166 shares of company stock worth $38,059,593 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 11.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On IonQ

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 2,293,231 shares in the last quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in shares of IonQ during the fourth quarter valued at $32,060,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of IonQ during the fourth quarter valued at $29,519,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new position in shares of IonQ in the 4th quarter valued at $29,513,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in IonQ by 439.3% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 857,078 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,800,000 after acquiring an additional 698,146 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.42% of the company’s stock.

IonQ Trading Down 1.4 %

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.47. The company has a market cap of $5.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -30.89 and a beta of 2.50.

IonQ Company Profile

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.