Brokerages Set Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DUOL) Price Target at $195.94

Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DUOL) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the twenty-two research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seventeen have assigned a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $197.6111.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on DUOL shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Duolingo from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $101.00 price target (down from $270.00) on shares of Duolingo in a research report on Friday, February 27th. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Duolingo in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $100.00 price target (down from $300.00) on shares of Duolingo in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Duolingo from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd.

Duolingo Stock Performance

Shares of DUOL stock opened at $122.63 on Monday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $106.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $130.04. The company has a market cap of $5.71 billion, a PE ratio of 14.11, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 2.62, a quick ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Duolingo has a 12-month low of $87.89 and a 12-month high of $489.00.

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $291.97 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $288.60 million. Duolingo had a return on equity of 14.07% and a net margin of 38.44%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 26.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.72 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Duolingo will post 2.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Duolingo

In related news, General Counsel Stephen C. Chen sold 1,977 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.61, for a total value of $224,606.97. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 52,807 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,999,403.27. This represents a 3.61% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Robert Meese sold 1,420 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.16, for a total value of $159,267.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 170,745 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,150,759.20. The trade was a 0.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold a total of 9,506 shares of company stock valued at $1,073,864 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 16.62% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Duolingo

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its position in shares of Duolingo by 71.9% in the 4th quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 4,861,445 shares of the company’s stock valued at $853,184,000 after acquiring an additional 2,033,611 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Duolingo by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,241,378 shares of the company’s stock valued at $393,362,000 after acquiring an additional 11,140 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of Duolingo by 511.2% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,332,301 shares of the company’s stock valued at $131,325,000 after acquiring an additional 1,114,315 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System increased its position in shares of Duolingo by 112.9% in the 1st quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 1,193,307 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,624,000 after acquiring an additional 632,807 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Duolingo by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,164,387 shares of the company’s stock valued at $477,422,000 after acquiring an additional 6,109 shares during the period. 91.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Duolingo

Duolingo, Inc (NASDAQ:DUOL) is a technology-driven education company that operates a widely used language-learning platform. Founded in 2011 by Luis von Ahn and Severin Hacker, Duolingo offers a freemium service featuring bite-sized lessons, gamified exercises and adaptive learning algorithms. The company’s core product is its mobile and web application, which supports instruction in more than 40 languages, ranging from widely spoken tongues such as English and Spanish to lesser-taught options including Irish and Swahili.

In addition to its flagship language courses, Duolingo has expanded its product suite to include the Duolingo English Test, an on-demand, computer-based English proficiency exam designed for academic and professional admissions.