Nomura Holdings Inc. Makes New $1.63 Million Investment in Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DUOL)

Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DUOL) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 5,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,631,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of DUOL. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Duolingo by 90.9% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 42,613 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,018,000 after buying an additional 20,289 shares during the period. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new stake in Duolingo during the 4th quarter worth about $245,000. Merit Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Duolingo by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 8,642 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,802,000 after buying an additional 683 shares during the period. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Duolingo in the 4th quarter valued at about $683,000. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Duolingo by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 2,908 shares of the company’s stock valued at $943,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.59% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Duolingo in a report on Friday, January 24th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $370.00 target price on the stock. Citizens Jmp upgraded Duolingo from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Duolingo from $435.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on Duolingo from $400.00 to $460.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on Duolingo from $405.00 to $470.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $426.29.

Duolingo Trading Down 0.3%

NASDAQ:DUOL opened at $529.05 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $367.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $352.58. Duolingo, Inc. has a 52 week low of $145.05 and a 52 week high of $544.93. The company has a market capitalization of $24.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 289.10 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 3.09 and a current ratio of 3.09.

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $230.74 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $223.15 million. Duolingo had a return on equity of 11.74% and a net margin of 12.59%. The business’s revenue was up 37.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Duolingo, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Duolingo news, General Counsel Stephen C. Chen sold 2,064 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $435.12, for a total transaction of $898,087.68. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 34,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,069,946.08. This represents a 5.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Severin Hacker sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $495.95, for a total value of $4,959,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 72 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,708.40. The trade was a 99.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 109,868 shares of company stock valued at $38,594,200 over the last 90 days. 15.67% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Duolingo Company Profile

Duolingo, Inc operates as a mobile learning platform in the United States, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company offers courses in 40 different languages, including Spanish, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, and Chinese through its Duolingo app. It also provides a digital English language proficiency assessment exam.