IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Shares Gap Down - What's Next?

Shares of IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ - Get Free Report) gapped down before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $43.20, but opened at $40.46. IonQ shares last traded at $39.55, with a volume of 8,129,089 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

IONQ has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on shares of IonQ from $54.00 to $50.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Benchmark reduced their target price on shares of IonQ from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of IonQ from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, DA Davidson cut their price target on shares of IonQ from $50.00 to $35.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $38.33.

IonQ Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $8.99 billion, a P/E ratio of -49.80 and a beta of 2.46. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $29.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.67.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.14) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.28) by $0.14. IonQ had a negative net margin of 457.85% and a negative return on equity of 36.82%. The business had revenue of $7.57 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.51 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.19) EPS. IonQ's quarterly revenue was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 1,407 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.20, for a total transaction of $29,828.40. Following the sale, the executive now directly owns 592,615 shares in the company, valued at $12,563,438. This represents a 0.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Peter Hume Chapman sold 2,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.72, for a total transaction of $37,440,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 414,363 shares in the company, valued at $7,756,875.36. The trade was a 82.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 2,033,166 shares of company stock valued at $38,059,593. 11.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IonQ

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of IONQ. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in IonQ by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,497,964 shares of the company's stock worth $474,460,000 after buying an additional 123,839 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in IonQ by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,466,094 shares of the company's stock worth $186,593,000 after purchasing an additional 45,942 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in IonQ by 1,310.9% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,468,160 shares of the company's stock worth $103,095,000 after purchasing an additional 2,293,231 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in IonQ by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,934,625 shares of the company's stock worth $80,809,000 after purchasing an additional 216,752 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in IonQ by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,645,672 shares of the company's stock worth $68,740,000 after purchasing an additional 31,638 shares during the last quarter. 41.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.