Duolingo’s (DUOL) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $145.00 price target on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 7.15% from the company’s previous close.

DUOL has been the subject of several other research reports. Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Duolingo in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Duolingo from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Duolingo from $94.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Zacks Research raised shares of Duolingo from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Bank of America lowered Duolingo from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $103.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eighteen have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $152.18.

Duolingo Stock Performance

Shares of DUOL opened at $135.32 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 2.62 and a quick ratio of 2.62. The firm has a market cap of $6.30 billion, a PE ratio of 15.57, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.87. Duolingo has a 1 year low of $87.89 and a 1 year high of $468.00. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $125.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $115.19.

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) last posted its 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 38.44% and a return on equity of 14.07%. The firm had revenue of $298.45 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $295.58 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.91 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Duolingo will post 2.81 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Duolingo

In other Duolingo news, General Counsel Stephen C. Chen sold 1,977 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 52,807 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,999,403.27. This represents a 3.61% 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 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 that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $19,150,759.20. This trade represents a 0.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold 9,506 shares of company stock worth $1,073,864 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 16.62% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Duolingo

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DUOL. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its position in Duolingo by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 940 shares of the company’s stock worth $385,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Duolingo by 5.0% during the second quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 818 shares of the company’s stock valued at $335,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio boosted its stake in shares of Duolingo by 0.6% during the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 11,740 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,778,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC grew its holdings in shares of Duolingo by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 8,953 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,571,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diversify Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Duolingo by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,139 shares of the company’s stock worth $520,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. 91.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Duolingo

Here are the key news stories impacting Duolingo this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Duolingo reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings of $0.66 per share, ahead of the roughly $0.60-$0.61 analyst consensus, while revenue reached approximately $298.5 million, up 18.3% year over year and slightly above some estimates. Duolingo Q2 Earnings and Revenues Top Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Management is prioritizing user engagement and expects to reach 100 million daily active users by 2028. The company outlined approximately 16% revenue growth for 2026, suggesting management remains focused on expanding its long-term user base. Duolingo Outlines 2026 Revenue Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Duolingo generated $88.3 million in operating cash flow during the quarter and ended June with approximately $1.2 billion in cash and cash equivalents, providing substantial financial flexibility.
• Neutral Sentiment: The company may “sunset” its premium Max subscription tier as it evaluates its product and user-growth strategy. The change could simplify the offering but also creates uncertainty about monetization and average revenue per user. Duolingo May Sunset Its Max Tier
• Negative Sentiment: Third-quarter revenue guidance of approximately $302 million was below the $303.9 million consensus estimate. The cautious forecast overshadowed the second-quarter beat and raised concerns that user growth is not translating into near-term revenue at the expected pace. Duolingo’s Lower-than-Expected Revenue Forecast
• Negative Sentiment: Second-quarter net income fell 26% year over year to $33.2 million, while diluted EPS declined from $0.91 to $0.66, adding to concerns about earnings momentum despite solid revenue growth.
• Negative Sentiment: Bank of America downgraded DUOL from Neutral to Underperform and cut its price target from $103 to $93, citing downside risk following the outlook. Bank of America Downgrades Duolingo

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.