Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 8,211 Shares of IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) by 30.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,590 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,211 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in IonQ were worth $162,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quest Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of IonQ by 4,824.2% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 6,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 6,368 shares in the last quarter. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in IonQ during the second quarter valued at about $67,000. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of IonQ in the third quarter valued at about $72,000. Xponance Inc. bought a new position in shares of IonQ in the second quarter worth about $88,000. Finally, Impact Partnership Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of IonQ during the third quarter worth about $89,000. 41.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

IonQ Stock Down 2.6 %

IonQ stock opened at $49.73 on Wednesday. IonQ, Inc. has a 52-week low of $6.22 and a 52-week high of $54.74. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $33.19 and its 200 day moving average is $17.27. The company has a market cap of $10.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -61.39 and a beta of 2.43.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). The company had revenue of $12.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.56 million. IonQ had a negative return on equity of 36.82% and a negative net margin of 457.85%. The company’s revenue was up 102.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.22) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that IonQ, Inc. will post -0.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on IONQ shares. Craig Hallum boosted their price target on IonQ from $22.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Benchmark boosted their target price on shares of IonQ from $12.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of IonQ from $13.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, DA Davidson started coverage on shares of IonQ in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $28.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other IonQ news, CRO Rima Alameddine sold 21,337 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.73, for a total value of $634,349.01. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now directly owns 571,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,985,373.33. The trade was a 3.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Peter Hume Chapman sold 13,106 shares of IonQ 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 $389,641.38. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 414,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,319,011.99. This represents a 3.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 110,223 shares of company stock worth $2,286,983 over the last three months. 11.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

IonQ 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.