IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Shares Down 6.4% – What’s Next?

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ)’s stock price dropped 6.4% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $47.54 and last traded at $47.6480. Approximately 20,598,737 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 23% from the average daily volume of 16,737,266 shares. The stock had previously closed at $50.88.

Key Stories Impacting IonQ

Here are the key news stories impacting IonQ this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks notes IonQ enters Q4 2025 earnings season with surging revenues and raised guidance, which supports the revenue-growth story and helps explain renewed buying interest. QBTS, RGTI, IONQ: Buy, Sell or Hold Ahead of Q4 Earnings?
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst write-ups (Zacks) and comparison pieces show IonQ outperforming peers on gate fidelity, execution speed and revenue momentum — a narrative that can justify multiple expansions versus other quantum pure-plays. Is IonQ a Buy in 2026? How the Stock Stacks Up Against RGTI, QBTS
• Positive Sentiment: Technical milestone: reports cite IonQ achieving extremely high two-qubit gate fidelity (99.99% in 2025). Higher fidelity improves commercial applicability and strengthens the company’s competitive moat. 2 No-Brainer Quantum Computing Stocks to Buy Hand Over Fist for 2026
• Positive Sentiment: Management / talent: IonQ named Katie Arrington (former DoD tech leader) as CIO — a hire that can accelerate government and defense customer relationships and signal stronger commercialization/government contract prospects. IonQ Names Former DOW Tech Leader Katie Arrington as CIO
• Neutral Sentiment: Media/analyst momentum: The Fool and Barron’s pieces promote quantum names broadly and highlight buy calls or price predictions — these increase retail and institutional attention but are not direct proof of near-term earnings upside. Rigetti and Quantum Computing Stocks Are a Buy, Says Analyst. Look Past the Criticism of Both.
• Neutral Sentiment: TV coverage: CNBC’s “Final Trade” mentioned IONQ among active tickers — TV chatter boosts short-term flows and visibility but is a noisy driver versus fundamentals. Final Trade: IONQ, URA, KRE, GM

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on IONQ shares. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on IonQ in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $100.00 target price on the stock. Zacks Research raised IonQ from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on shares of IonQ from $70.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on IonQ from $32.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of IonQ from $35.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $75.91.

IonQ Trading Up 6.8%

The stock has a market capitalization of $17.65 billion, a PE ratio of -9.50 and a beta of 2.63. The business’s 50-day moving average is $48.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $51.19.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported ($3.58) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.44) by ($3.14). IonQ had a negative return on equity of 127.06% and a negative net margin of 1,836.32%.The company had revenue of $39.87 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.99 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.24) earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 221.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director William J. Teuber, Jr. purchased 2,000 shares of IonQ stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 11th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $54.81 per share, with a total value of $109,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $351,496.53. This trade represents a 45.32% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.89, for a total transaction of $4,689,000.00. Following the sale, the executive directly owned 432,616 shares in the company, valued at $20,285,364.24. This trade represents a 18.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 125,000 shares of company stock worth $5,992,000. 5.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IonQ

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in shares of IonQ by 12.5% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 134,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,962,000 after buying an additional 14,898 shares in the last quarter. Amundi purchased a new stake in shares of IonQ during the first quarter valued at $630,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of IonQ by 106.2% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 57,305 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,265,000 after purchasing an additional 29,513 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in IonQ by 24.1% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 450,031 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,932,000 after purchasing an additional 87,428 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth increased its stake in IonQ by 30.3% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 46,782 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,032,000 after purchasing an additional 10,881 shares in the last quarter. 41.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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. It also provides contracts associated with the design, development, and construction of specialized quantum computing hardware systems; maintenance and support services; and consulting services related to co-developing algorithms on quantum computing systems.