First Trust Advisors LP Sells 22,396 Shares of Duolingo, Inc. $DUOL

First Trust Advisors LP lessened its holdings in Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DUOL) by 18.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 99,433 shares of the company’s stock after selling 22,396 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.21% of Duolingo worth $9,801,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DUOL. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft bought a new position in Duolingo in the first quarter worth approximately $1,479,000. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Duolingo by 280.6% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 765 shares of the company’s stock worth $75,000 after acquiring an additional 564 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its position in shares of Duolingo by 660.4% during the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 7,262 shares of the company’s stock valued at $716,000 after acquiring an additional 6,307 shares during the period. Audent Global Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Duolingo during the 1st quarter valued at $2,139,000. Finally, PeakShares LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Duolingo in the 1st quarter worth $99,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.59% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Duolingo

In related news, insider Natalie Glance sold 3,360 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.59, for a total transaction of $381,662.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 173,401 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,696,619.59. This represents a 1.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through 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 firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.16, for a total transaction of $159,267.20. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 170,745 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 9,506 shares of company stock valued at $1,073,864. 16.62% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on DUOL shares. Wedbush initiated coverage on Duolingo in a report on Thursday, July 16th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $139.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Duolingo from $95.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Duolingo from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Duolingo in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Duolingo in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $152.29.

Duolingo Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of DUOL opened at $134.81 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $123.33 and its 200 day moving average is $115.99. The company has a market capitalization of $6.28 billion, a PE ratio of 15.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.88. Duolingo, Inc. has a 12-month low of $87.89 and a 12-month high of $468.00. 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 (NASDAQ:DUOL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.10. Duolingo had a return on equity of 14.07% and a net margin of 38.44%.The company had revenue of $291.97 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $288.60 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.72 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 26.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Duolingo, Inc. will post 2.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Duolingo Company 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.