IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $49.59, but opened at $38.75. IonQ shares last traded at $30.05, with a volume of 33,781,677 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

IONQ has been the topic of several recent research reports. Craig Hallum increased their price target on IonQ from $22.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on shares of IonQ from $13.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Benchmark boosted their price target on shares of IonQ from $12.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, DA Davidson assumed coverage on IonQ in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $28.60.

IonQ Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $6.04 billion, a P/E ratio of -34.48 and a beta of 2.43. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $17.27.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.24) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.22) by ($0.02). IonQ had a negative net margin of 457.85% and a negative return on equity of 36.82%. The business had revenue of $12.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.56 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.22) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 102.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Thomas G. Kramer sold 9,780 shares of IonQ stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.72, for a total transaction of $290,661.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 926,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,524,108.08. The trade was a 1.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Peter Hume Chapman sold 13,106 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.73, for a total transaction of $389,641.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 414,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,319,011.99. The trade was a 3.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 110,223 shares of company stock worth $2,286,983 over the last 90 days. 11.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IonQ

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of IonQ by 16.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 916,536 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,443,000 after buying an additional 131,439 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in IonQ by 40.6% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 26,801 shares of the company’s stock worth $188,000 after acquiring an additional 7,744 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in IonQ by 13.5% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 295,918 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,080,000 after acquiring an additional 35,158 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in IonQ by 3.6% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 49,550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $348,000 after purchasing an additional 1,731 shares during the period. Finally, Quest Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of IonQ by 4,824.2% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 6,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 6,368 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 41.42% of the company’s stock.

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.