Janus Henderson Group PLC Cuts Stake in Duolingo, Inc. $DUOL

Janus Henderson Group PLC lowered its stake in shares of Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DUOL) by 66.3% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 15,214 shares of the company’s stock after selling 29,966 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in Duolingo were worth $1,500,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Centaurus Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Duolingo in the first quarter worth about $108,000. Cim LLC grew its position in shares of Duolingo by 10.2% during the 1st quarter. Cim LLC now owns 4,838 shares of the company’s stock valued at $477,000 after acquiring an additional 448 shares during the period. South Dakota Investment Council increased its stake in shares of Duolingo by 61.3% during the 1st quarter. South Dakota Investment Council now owns 15,708 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,548,000 after purchasing an additional 5,968 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its holdings in shares of Duolingo by 1,351.7% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 449,068 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,265,000 after purchasing an additional 418,134 shares during the period. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Duolingo by 22.6% in the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 41,720 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,112,000 after purchasing an additional 7,700 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.59% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Duolingo

Here are the key news stories impacting Duolingo this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Duolingo exceeded second-quarter expectations, reporting adjusted earnings of $0.66 per share versus consensus of roughly $0.60-$0.61, while revenue rose 18.3% year over year to $298.5 million, above the $295.6 million estimate. DUOL Q2 Earnings Beat Estimates on Strong User Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Daily active users increased 23% year over year, and paid subscribers continued to grow, reinforcing Duolingo’s long-term expansion strategy. Management also cited lower artificial-intelligence costs as a factor supporting profitability. Duolingo stock sinks 15% as Q3 revenue forecast misses expectations
• Positive Sentiment: Needham reaffirmed its Buy rating and set a $145 price target, while Truist raised its target to $120 from $100, indicating some analysts see value after the recent selloff. Analyst ratings and price targets
• Neutral Sentiment: Management is prioritizing engagement and user growth, targeting 100 million daily active users by 2028, but projected 2026 revenue growth of approximately 16% signals a materially slower pace than Duolingo’s historical expansion. Duolingo outlines 2026 revenue growth of approximately 16%
• Negative Sentiment: The main overhang is Duolingo’s third-quarter revenue forecast, which fell below Wall Street expectations. The guidance overshadowed the earnings and user-growth beats, prompting a sharp post-earnings selloff and raising concerns that the company’s growth engine is slowing. Duolingo posts better-than-expected sales but stock drops
• Negative Sentiment: Bank of America downgraded Duolingo to Underperform, and Truist’s Hold rating with a $120 target remains below the recent trading level, reflecting valuation and execution concerns. Bank of America downgrades Duolingo

Insider Activity

In related news, General Counsel Stephen C. Chen sold 1,977 shares of the 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 sale, the general counsel owned 52,807 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,999,403.27. This trade represents a 3.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 Duolingo 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 sale, the insider directly owned 170,745 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,150,759.20. This represents a 0.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold 9,506 shares of company stock worth $1,073,864 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 16.62% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on DUOL. Bank of America lowered Duolingo from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $103.00 to $93.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Wedbush assumed coverage on Duolingo in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $139.00 target price on the stock. Evercore set a $105.00 price target on Duolingo in a research note on Thursday. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Duolingo in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Duolingo from $94.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $148.12.

Duolingo Stock Performance

Shares of DUOL opened at $130.90 on Monday. Duolingo, Inc. has a twelve month low of $87.89 and a twelve month high of $415.76. The stock has a market cap of $6.10 billion, a PE ratio of 15.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $125.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $114.86.

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $298.45 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $295.58 million. Duolingo had a net margin of 35.88% and a return on equity of 12.10%. Duolingo’s revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.91 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Duolingo, Inc. will post 2.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duolingo Profile

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.