Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ:RGTI) Shares Down 1.8% – Time to Sell?

Rigetti Computing, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGTI)’s stock price was down 1.8% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $15.07 and last traded at $15.60. Approximately 23,399,925 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 22% from the average daily volume of 30,095,377 shares. The stock had previously closed at $15.88.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on RGTI shares. B. Riley Financial upgraded Rigetti Computing from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Benchmark lowered their target price on Rigetti Computing from $35.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Rigetti Computing in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. TD Cowen lowered shares of Rigetti Computing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Rigetti Computing from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, February 21st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Rigetti Computing has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.70.

Rigetti Computing Stock Down 1.8%

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $18.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $25.96. The firm has a market cap of $5.18 billion, a P/E ratio of -22.94 and a beta of 1.72.

Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ:RGTI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 4th. The company reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.05) by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.87 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.33 million. Rigetti Computing had a negative return on equity of 14.91% and a negative net margin of 3,111.92%.The firm’s revenue was down 17.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Rigetti Computing, Inc. will post -0.34 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Rigetti Computing

In other news, CTO David Rivas sold 36,719 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.52, for a total transaction of $643,316.88. Following the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 651,914 shares in the company, valued at $11,421,533.28. This trade represents a 5.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Jeffrey A. Bertelsen sold 4,270 shares of Rigetti Computing stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.52, for a total transaction of $74,810.40. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 175,609 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,076,669.68. This trade represents a 2.37% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Rigetti Computing

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of RGTI. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Rigetti Computing by 12.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,970,648 shares of the company’s stock valued at $796,750,000 after acquiring an additional 3,924,171 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Rigetti Computing by 12.0% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,853,006 shares of the company’s stock worth $104,997,000 after purchasing an additional 946,850 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Rigetti Computing by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,879,325 shares of the company’s stock worth $174,930,000 after purchasing an additional 196,891 shares in the last quarter. Marex Group plc purchased a new position in Rigetti Computing in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $87,414,000. Finally, UBS Group AG boosted its stake in Rigetti Computing by 90.9% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,081,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $91,788,000 after purchasing an additional 1,467,483 shares during the period. 35.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Rigetti Computing

Rigetti Computing is a pioneering quantum computing company that designs and manufactures superconducting quantum processors alongside a complementary software stack. Founded in 2013 by CEO Chad Rigetti, the company has developed end-to-end quantum systems—from cryogenic hardware to control electronics—to advance the performance and scalability of quantum machines.

At the core of Rigetti’s offering is its Quantum Cloud Services (QCS) platform, which enables developers and enterprises to access quantum processing units (QPUs) and hybrid quantum-classical workflows via the cloud.