IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Shares Down 8.4% - Here's What Happened

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ - Get Free Report) traded down 8.4% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $39.45 and last traded at $40.16. 16,511,053 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 62% from the average session volume of 10,166,919 shares. The stock had previously closed at $43.84.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on IONQ shares. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price 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. Benchmark raised their price objective 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, Craig Hallum boosted their target price on shares of IonQ from $15.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th.

IonQ Trading Down 14.5 %

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $13.40. The firm has a market cap of $8.11 billion, a PE ratio of -46.30 and a beta of 2.49.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.24) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.22) by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $12.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.56 million. IonQ had a negative net margin of 457.85% and a negative return on equity of 36.82%. IonQ's revenue was up 102.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.22) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Peter Hume Chapman sold 13,106 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.73, for a total value of $389,641.38. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 414,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,319,011.99. This represents a 3.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 21,337 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.73, for a total transaction of $634,349.01. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now directly owns 571,321 shares in the company, valued at $16,985,373.33. This represents a 3.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 110,223 shares of company stock worth $2,286,983 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.60% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IonQ

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Quest Partners LLC lifted its holdings 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 during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in IonQ during the third quarter valued at about $72,000. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in IonQ during the second quarter worth about $67,000. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of IonQ in the 3rd quarter worth about $89,000. Finally, Arete Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of IonQ during the 3rd quarter valued at about $91,000. Institutional investors own 41.42% of the company's stock.

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.