IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Stock Price Down 39% – Here’s Why

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) fell 39% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $25.92 and last traded at $30.27. 127,081,346 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 179% from the average session volume of 45,574,754 shares. The stock had previously closed at $49.59.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

IonQ Stock Up 7.4 %

The company has a market capitalization of $7.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -40.10 and a beta of 2.43. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $34.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $17.63.

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 the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by ($0.02). IonQ had a negative return on equity of 36.82% and a negative net margin of 457.85%. The company had revenue of $12.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.56 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.22) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 102.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at IonQ

In related news, CFO Thomas G. Kramer sold 9,780 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 926,114 shares in the company, valued at $27,524,108.08. This represents a 1.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 9,159 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.72, for a total transaction of $98,184.48. Following the transaction, the executive now directly owns 648,783 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,954,953.76. This represents a 1.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 109,507 shares of company stock valued at $2,279,308. 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 IONQ. Carnegie Investment Counsel bought a new stake in shares of IonQ during the 3rd quarter worth about $5,036,000. Yong Rong HK Asset Management Ltd acquired a new stake in IonQ during the third quarter valued at $3,749,000. Main Management ETF Advisors LLC bought a new position in IonQ during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,865,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of IonQ by 4.7% in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in IonQ in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,631,000. Hedge funds and other 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.