IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Shares Down 1% - Here's Why

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) saw its shares decrease by 1% in mid-day trading on Wednesday. The stock reached a low of $25.02 before slightly recovering to last trade at $25.29. During this trading session, a total of 18,077,314 shares exchanged hands, marking a significant 22% increase from the average trading volume of 14,767,807 shares. The previous closing price for IonQ was $25.55.

Wall Street Analysts' Opinions

Analysts have been vocal about IonQ's stock performance. Benchmark downgraded its target price from $50.00 to $45.00 while maintaining a 'buy' rating on February 27th. Goldman Sachs also adjusted their price target for IonQ upward, from $16.00 to $30.00, assigning a 'neutral' rating in a note released on January 10th. Another firm, Needham & Company LLC, reaffirmed a 'buy' rating with a target price of $54.00 in a report on February 27th. Meanwhile, DA Davidson upgraded IonQ to a 'strong buy' rating on February 20th, and Craig Hallum increased their price target from $22.00 to $45.00, also giving the stock a 'buy' designation in a December report. According to MarketBeat.com, IonQ has a consensus rating of 'Buy' with an average target price of $44.80.

Current Trading Status

The stock's 50-day simple moving average is reported at $32.32, while the 200-day simple moving average stands at $26.81. IonQ's market capitalization is around $5.70 billion, and the stock shows a price-to-earnings (PE) ratio of -31.69, reflecting a beta value of 2.50.

Insider Activity

In recent insider activities, Director William F. Scannell acquired 93,066 shares of IonQ on March 12th for an average price of $21.81 per share, totaling approximately $2,029,769.46. Following this purchase, Scannell's total shares in the company increased by an impressive 221.69%, bringing his total holdings to 135,047 shares, valued at around $2,945,375.07. In contrast, insider Peter Hume Chapman sold 2,000,000 shares on March 11th at an average price of $18.72, totaling about $37,440,000. This sale resulted in Chapman's ownership dropping by 82.84%. Notably, insiders have sold a total of 2,033,166 shares valued at $38,059,593 within the last 90 days, with company insiders holding 11.60% of the stock.

Institutional Investment Movements

Numerous hedge funds have recently adjusted their stakes in IonQ. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its shareholding by 9.2% in the third quarter, now holding 1,614,034 shares valued at $14,107,000 after purchasing an additional 135,851 shares. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. has also increased its stake by 34.2%, owning now 437,596 shares valued at $3,825,000 after acquiring 111,435 shares. Additionally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd entered IonQ with a new position worth $1,631,000, and State Street Corp increased its stake by 1.8%, now holding 4,260,880 shares valued at $37,240,000. As of now, institutional investors own 41.42% of IonQ's stock.

About IonQ

IonQ, Inc. focuses on developing general-purpose quantum computing systems in the United States. The company provides access to its quantum computers with various qubit capacities through platforms such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) Amazon Braket, Microsoft's Azure Quantum, Google's Cloud Marketplace, and its own dedicated cloud service.

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