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

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $39.39, but opened at $36.86. IonQ shares last traded at $36.38, with a volume of 10,890,114 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on IonQ from $13.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on IonQ from $16.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Benchmark lifted their price target on IonQ from $12.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. DA Davidson began coverage on IonQ in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Craig Hallum boosted their price objective on IonQ from $22.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, IonQ has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.00.

IonQ Stock Down 6.2 %

The business has a fifty day moving average price of $35.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $18.62. The company has a market cap of $8.43 billion, a P/E ratio of -48.09 and a beta of 2.43.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.24) earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.56 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.22) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue 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 IonQ news, CFO Thomas G. Kramer sold 9,780 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.72, for a total transaction of $290,661.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 926,114 shares in the company, valued at $27,524,108.08. The trade was a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 22,875 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.75, for a total transaction of $406,031.25. Following the transaction, the executive now owns 592,658 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,519,679.50. This represents a 3.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 79,098 shares of company stock worth $1,909,323. Corporate insiders own 11.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IONQ. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of IonQ by 4.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,420,152 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,640,000 after buying an additional 199,360 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of IonQ by 1.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,260,880 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,240,000 after buying an additional 75,596 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of IonQ by 9.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,614,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,107,000 after buying an additional 135,851 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of IonQ by 7.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 612,625 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,354,000 after buying an additional 41,125 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Carnegie Investment Counsel acquired a new position in shares of IonQ during the third quarter worth $5,036,000. 41.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.