Key Insights

• Significant control over IonQ by individual investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• 41% of the business is held by the top 25 shareholders
• Recent purchases by insiders

To get a sense of who is truly in control of IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 50% to be precise, is individual investors. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

While individual investors were the group that benefitted the most from last week's US$76m market cap gain, institutions too had a 40% share in those profits.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about IonQ.

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About IonQ?

Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices.

We can see that IonQ does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This implies the analysts working for those institutions have looked at the stock and they like it. But just like anyone else, they could be wrong. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see IonQ's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in IonQ. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is The Vanguard Group, Inc. with 8.5% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 5.8% and 3.5% of the stock. Jungsang Kim, who is the third-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Member of the Board of Directors.

On studying our ownership data, we found that 25 of the top shareholders collectively own less than 50% of the share register, implying that no single individual has a majority interest.

While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. There are a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future.

Insider Ownership Of IonQ

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. The company management answer to the board and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board themselves.

I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions.

We can see that insiders own shares in IonQ, Inc.. The insiders have a meaningful stake worth US$179m. Most would see this as a real positive. It is good to see this level of investment by insiders. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 50% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. For instance, we've identified 2 warning signs for IonQ that you should be aware of.

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.

NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.