IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Shares Down 7.8% – Here’s What Happened

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ)’s share price dropped 7.8% on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $8.04 and last traded at $8.06. Approximately 9,222,400 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 60% from the average daily volume of 5,780,878 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.74.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on IONQ shares. Benchmark cut their price target on IonQ from $16.00 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on IonQ from $11.50 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 9th. Craig Hallum lowered their price target on shares of IonQ from $21.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $13.00 price objective on shares of IonQ in a research report on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, IonQ presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $12.00.

IonQ Stock Up 0.5 %

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $7.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $8.02. The company has a market cap of $1.95 billion, a PE ratio of -11.10 and a beta of 2.04.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.18) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.22) by $0.04. IonQ had a negative return on equity of 34.02% and a negative net margin of 525.13%. The company had revenue of $11.38 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.66 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.16) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 106.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in IonQ by 1,598.7% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 2,084,625 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,825,000 after buying an additional 1,961,909 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of IonQ by 5.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,824,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $188,062,000 after acquiring an additional 918,265 shares during the last quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of IonQ in the 1st quarter valued at $2,410,000. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. raised its position in IonQ by 126.7% in the 1st quarter. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. now owns 357,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,566,000 after purchasing an additional 199,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gagnon Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in IonQ during the 1st quarter worth $1,582,000. 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.