Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) Upgraded at DA Davidson

DA Davidson upgraded shares of Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has $160.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $130.00.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on DUOL. Scotiabank set a $120.00 target price on Duolingo in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Duolingo from $95.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Duolingo from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Wall Street Zen raised Duolingo from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, August 16th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Duolingo from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, sixteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $131.19.

Duolingo Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:DUOL opened at $147.03 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $130.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $114.35. The company has a market cap of $6.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.42, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.72. Duolingo has a one year low of $87.89 and a one year high of $355.00.

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.06. Duolingo had a net margin of 35.88% and a return on equity of 12.10%. The firm had revenue of $298.45 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $295.58 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.91 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Duolingo will post 2.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Duolingo news, insider Robert Meese sold 1,354 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.13, for a total value of $174,842.02. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 169,391 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,873,459.83. This represents a 0.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Natalie Glance sold 1,539 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.80, for a total value of $212,074.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 169,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,303,495.80. This represents a 0.90% decrease in their position. 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. Insiders sold 6,668 shares of company stock worth $874,382 in the last quarter. 16.62% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Duolingo

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Lingotto Investment Management LLP boosted its holdings in Duolingo by 34.3% during the 4th quarter. Lingotto Investment Management LLP now owns 33,563 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,890,000 after acquiring an additional 8,563 shares during the period. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. bought a new position in Duolingo during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,752,000. Peregrine Capital Management LLC grew its position in Duolingo by 50.3% during the 4th quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC now owns 129,515 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,730,000 after acquiring an additional 43,352 shares during the last quarter. Investment House LLC increased its stake in Duolingo by 250.7% in the 4th quarter. Investment House LLC now owns 18,038 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,166,000 after purchasing an additional 12,894 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp increased its stake in Duolingo by 206.9% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 77,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,632,000 after purchasing an additional 52,364 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.59% of the company’s stock.

Duolingo News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Duolingo this week:

• Positive Sentiment: DA Davidson upgraded Duolingo to “Buy” from “Neutral” and raised its price target to $160 from $130. The firm cited product improvements and strategic initiatives that could represent a turning point for the language-learning platform. The higher target implies further potential upside from recent trading levels. Duolingo Raised to Buy at DA Davidson
• Positive Sentiment: The upgrade helped trigger a gap higher in DUOL shares. Investor sentiment is also benefiting from Duolingo’s user growth, subscription-based business model and prospects for improved monetization and lower artificial-intelligence costs. The company’s latest quarterly results provide additional support: revenue increased 18.3% year over year to $298.45 million and EPS exceeded estimates. Duolingo Shares Gap Up on Analyst Upgrade
• Neutral Sentiment: Several insiders sold shares after restricted stock units vested, including General Counsel Stephen Chen, Chief Business Officer Robert Meese and Natalie Glance. The sales were described as covering tax-withholding obligations, and some occurred under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans. Each insider retained a substantial position, reducing the significance of the transactions, though the activity could modestly weigh on sentiment. Duolingo Insider Selling
• Neutral Sentiment: A Yahoo Entertainment article discusses another company’s brand mascot but does not report a material financial, operating or strategic development for Duolingo. Move Over Duolingo, There’s a New Brand Mascot in Town

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.