South Dakota Investment Council Purchases 5,968 Shares of Duolingo, Inc. $DUOL

South Dakota Investment Council increased its holdings in Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DUOL) by 61.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,708 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,968 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Duolingo were worth $1,548,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DUOL. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position in Duolingo by 1,868.2% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 433 shares of the company’s stock valued at $134,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Duolingo by 123.9% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 87,556 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,190,000 after purchasing an additional 48,451 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its stake in shares of Duolingo by 28.3% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 2,021 shares of the company’s stock valued at $628,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its stake in shares of Duolingo by 142.1% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 26,075 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,352,000 after purchasing an additional 15,306 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC purchased a new position in Duolingo during the second quarter valued at approximately $205,000. 91.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Robert Meese sold 1,420 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was 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 approximately $19,150,759.20. This represents a 0.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, 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 in the company, valued at approximately $5,999,403.27. The trade was a 3.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 9,506 shares of company stock valued at $1,073,864. 16.62% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on DUOL. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Duolingo from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $145.00 target price on shares of Duolingo in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Wedbush began coverage on Duolingo in a report on Thursday, July 16th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $139.00 price target on the stock. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of Duolingo in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Evercore set a $97.00 price objective on Duolingo in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Two 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $152.29.

Duolingo Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of Duolingo stock opened at $134.81 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.62, a current ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a market cap of $6.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.51, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.88. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $123.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $115.99. Duolingo, Inc. has a 52-week low of $87.89 and a 52-week high of $468.00.

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.10. Duolingo had a net margin of 38.44% and a return on equity of 14.07%. The company had revenue of $291.97 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $288.60 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.72 earnings per share. Duolingo’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Duolingo, Inc. will post 2.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.