Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) Given Equal Weight Rating at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley reissued their equal weight rating on shares of Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) in a research report report published on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a $100.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $245.00.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on DUOL. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Duolingo from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Truist Financial set a $245.00 target price on Duolingo in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Duolingo from $600.00 to $300.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Duolingo from $390.00 to $230.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered shares of Duolingo from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Duolingo presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $220.26.

Duolingo Stock Down 14.0%

Duolingo stock traded down $16.45 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $101.00. 20,096,588 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,830,754. Duolingo has a 52-week low of $91.99 and a 52-week high of $544.93. The company has a quick ratio of 2.82, a current ratio of 2.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $144.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $224.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.86.

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.12. Duolingo had a net margin of 40.03% and a return on equity of 14.02%. The firm had revenue of $282.87 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $275.95 million. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 35.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Duolingo will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Duolingo

In related news, insider Natalie Glance sold 3,545 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.51, for a total value of $402,392.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 115,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,096,783.80. This trade represents a 2.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Matthew Skaruppa sold 3,986 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.52, for a total transaction of $452,490.72. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 31,631 shares in the company, valued at $3,590,751.12. The trade was a 11.19% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 14,939 shares of company stock worth $1,676,291. 15.67% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Citigroup Inc. boosted its position in shares of Duolingo by 31.8% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 259,666 shares of the company’s stock valued at $83,571,000 after purchasing an additional 62,614 shares in the last quarter. Bryce Point Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Duolingo during the 2nd quarter valued at $946,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Duolingo by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,647,951 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,495,733,000 after buying an additional 116,135 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Duolingo by 967.3% in the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 48,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,746,000 after buying an additional 44,342 shares during the period. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Duolingo in the 2nd quarter worth about $14,377,000. Institutional investors own 91.59% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Duolingo

Here are the key news stories impacting Duolingo this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results beat estimates — revenue and EPS topped expectations and the company reported strong margin metrics. Earnings Report
• Positive Sentiment: User scale: Duolingo closed 2025 with >50M daily active users and topped $1B in bookings — evidence of continued product adoption. Shareholder Letter
• Positive Sentiment: Strong full-year profitability: reports note roughly $400M profit for 2025, underlining unit economics at scale. Profit Article
• Neutral Sentiment: Management is explicitly shifting to prioritize user growth over near-term monetization, saying bookings and revenue growth will slow as they aim for 100M DAUs by 2028. Reuters Strategy Piece
• Neutral Sentiment: Management set explicit DAU growth targets and framed short-term profitability trade-offs as part of a longer-term expansion plan. Seeking Alpha
• Negative Sentiment: Guidance disappointment: FY?2026 and Q1 2026 revenue/bookings guidance came in below Street expectations, triggering sharp intraday selling. Guidance/Miss Report
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst downgrades and price-target cuts accelerated the sell-off (multiple firms cut targets and/or ratings after the call). Analyst Moves
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/litigation risk: investor law firms have launched probes into DUOL, increasing uncertainty and potential legal overhang. Investigation Alert
• Negative Sentiment: High-volume selling and negative press amplified moves — multiple outlets flagged a steep intraday decline and described investor concern over the strategy shift. Barron’s

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.