Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at UBS Group

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) was upgraded by equities researchers at UBS Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Duolingo from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Duolingo from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Evercore set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Duolingo in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America downgraded shares of Duolingo from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $103.00 to $93.00 in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on Duolingo from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, eighteen have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Duolingo presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $148.12.

Duolingo Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ DUOL opened at $130.90 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.51, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.87. Duolingo has a 12 month low of $87.89 and a 12 month high of $415.76. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $125.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $115.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.62.

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $298.45 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $295.58 million. Duolingo had a return on equity of 12.10% and a net margin of 35.88%.The firm’s revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.91 EPS. Analysts expect that Duolingo will post 2.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Duolingo news, General Counsel Stephen C. Chen sold 1,977 shares of Duolingo stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.61, for a total transaction of $224,606.97. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 52,807 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,999,403.27. The trade was a 3.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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 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 value of $159,267.20. Following the transaction, the insider 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 9,506 shares of company stock valued at $1,073,864. 16.62% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its holdings in Duolingo by 71.9% in the fourth quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 4,861,445 shares of the company’s stock valued at $853,184,000 after buying an additional 2,033,611 shares during the last quarter. Lingotto Investment Management LLP raised its stake in Duolingo by 34.3% during the fourth quarter. Lingotto Investment Management LLP now owns 33,563 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,890,000 after buying an additional 8,563 shares in the last quarter. 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 lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 43,352 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Investment House LLC lifted its holdings in Duolingo by 250.7% during the 4th quarter. Investment House LLC now owns 18,038 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,166,000 after buying an additional 12,894 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.59% of the company’s stock.

More Duolingo News

Here are the key news stories impacting Duolingo this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Duolingo exceeded second-quarter expectations, reporting adjusted earnings of $0.66 per share versus consensus of roughly $0.60-$0.61, while revenue rose 18.3% year over year to $298.5 million, above the $295.6 million estimate. DUOL Q2 Earnings Beat Estimates on Strong User Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Daily active users increased 23% year over year, and paid subscribers continued to grow, reinforcing Duolingo’s long-term expansion strategy. Management also cited lower artificial-intelligence costs as a factor supporting profitability. Duolingo stock sinks 15% as Q3 revenue forecast misses expectations
• Positive Sentiment: Needham reaffirmed its Buy rating and set a $145 price target, while Truist raised its target to $120 from $100, indicating some analysts see value after the recent selloff. Analyst ratings and price targets
• Neutral Sentiment: Management is prioritizing engagement and user growth, targeting 100 million daily active users by 2028, but projected 2026 revenue growth of approximately 16% signals a materially slower pace than Duolingo’s historical expansion. Duolingo outlines 2026 revenue growth of approximately 16%
• Negative Sentiment: The main overhang is Duolingo’s third-quarter revenue forecast, which fell below Wall Street expectations. The guidance overshadowed the earnings and user-growth beats, prompting a sharp post-earnings selloff and raising concerns that the company’s growth engine is slowing. Duolingo posts better-than-expected sales but stock drops
• Negative Sentiment: Bank of America downgraded Duolingo to Underperform, and Truist’s Hold rating with a $120 target remains below the recent trading level, reflecting valuation and execution concerns. 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.