IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) shares gapped down prior to trading 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 changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on IONQ. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on IonQ from $13.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Craig Hallum raised their price objective on shares of IonQ from $22.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. DA Davidson began coverage on shares of IonQ in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 target price for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of IonQ from $16.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Benchmark upped their price objective on shares of IonQ from $12.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.00.

IonQ Trading Up 7.4 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $7.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -40.10 and a beta of 2.43. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $33.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.45.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last announced its 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.56 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.22) earnings per share. IonQ’s quarterly revenue was up 102.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at IonQ

In other news, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 22,875 shares of IonQ stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.75, for a total value of $406,031.25. Following the sale, the executive now owns 592,658 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,519,679.50. The trade was a 3.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Thomas G. Kramer sold 9,780 shares of the 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. This represents a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 109,507 shares of company stock valued at $2,279,308 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of IonQ

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