Highland Capital Management LLC Takes Position in Duolingo, Inc. $DUOL

Highland Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DUOL) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 3,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,261,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Duolingo in the first quarter worth $3,772,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its position in shares of Duolingo by 39.0% in the 1st quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 3,186 shares of the company’s stock worth $995,000 after buying an additional 894 shares during the last quarter. Encompass More Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Duolingo during the first quarter valued at approximately $762,000. Jump Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Duolingo by 563.7% during the first quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 104,693 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,511,000 after acquiring an additional 88,918 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Silvant Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Duolingo during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,946,000. 91.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Duolingo Stock Up 3.1%

DUOL opened at $322.63 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 132.77, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.86. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $317.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $380.91. Duolingo, Inc. has a twelve month low of $256.63 and a twelve month high of $544.93. The company has a quick ratio of 2.81, a current ratio of 2.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.36. Duolingo had a net margin of 13.24% and a return on equity of 13.32%. The company had revenue of $252.27 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $240.84 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.51 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 41.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Duolingo, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on DUOL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Duolingo from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. KeyCorp upgraded Duolingo from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $460.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Duolingo in a research note on Monday, September 8th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $239.00 price target on the stock. JMP Securities decreased their price objective on Duolingo from $475.00 to $450.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Robert W. Baird started coverage on Duolingo in a research report on Friday, September 5th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $280.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $419.32.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Robert Meese sold 1,444 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.03, for a total transaction of $475,119.32. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 120,080 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,509,922.40. The trade was a 1.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Severin Hacker sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.94, for a total transaction of $2,889,400.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 72 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,803.68. This represents a 99.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 70,508 shares of company stock worth $22,676,721. Company insiders own 18.30% of the company’s stock.

About Duolingo

Duolingo, Inc operates as a mobile learning platform in the United States, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company offers courses in 40 different languages, including Spanish, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, and Chinese through its Duolingo app. It also provides a digital English language proficiency assessment exam.