Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) Trading Down 4.5% – Here’s What Happened

Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DUOL) shares were down 4.5% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $127.15 and last traded at $127.82. Approximately 232,742 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 89% from the average session volume of 2,097,780 shares. The stock had previously closed at $133.89.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on DUOL shares. Zacks Research raised shares of Duolingo from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Duolingo from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Duolingo from $94.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Duolingo from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Duolingo in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $167.17.

Duolingo Stock Down 4.2%

The company has a current ratio of 2.62, a quick ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market cap of $5.57 billion, a PE ratio of 13.75, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.88. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $120.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $117.80.

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $291.97 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $288.60 million. Duolingo had a net margin of 38.44% and a return on equity of 14.07%. The company’s revenue was up 26.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.72 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Duolingo, Inc. will post 2.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Duolingo 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 170,745 shares in the company, valued at $19,150,759.20. This represents a 0.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Natalie Glance sold 3,360 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.59, for a total value of $381,662.40. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 173,401 shares in the company, valued at $19,696,619.59. This trade represents a 1.90% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 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 a total of 9,506 shares of company stock worth $1,073,864 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 16.62% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Duolingo

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew 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 worth $853,184,000 after buying an additional 2,033,611 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in Duolingo by 511.2% during the first 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 last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System lifted its position in Duolingo by 112.9% during the first 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 last quarter. FIL Ltd boosted its stake in Duolingo by 1,715,575.9% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 497,546 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,319,000 after acquiring an additional 497,517 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Duolingo in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $86,159,000. Institutional investors own 91.59% of the company’s stock.

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.