Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) Cut to “Sell” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note published on Saturday morning.

DUOL has been the subject of several other research reports. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Duolingo from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Duolingo in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Barclays boosted their target price on Duolingo from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Evercore set a $105.00 price target on Duolingo in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on Duolingo from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $148.12.

Duolingo Price Performance

DUOL stock opened at $137.19 on Friday. Duolingo has a one year low of $87.89 and a one year high of $373.50. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $126.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $114.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a current ratio of 2.72. The company has a market capitalization of $6.39 billion, a PE ratio of 16.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.87.

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $298.45 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $295.58 million. Duolingo had a net margin of 35.88% and a return on equity of 12.10%. Duolingo’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.91 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Duolingo will post 2.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Duolingo

In other news, insider Robert Meese sold 1,420 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.16, for a total value of $159,267.20. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 170,745 shares in the company, valued at $19,150,759.20. The trade was a 0.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, General Counsel Stephen C. Chen sold 1,977 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the general counsel owned 52,807 shares in the company, valued at $5,999,403.27. This represents a 3.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 have sold a total of 9,506 shares of company stock worth $1,073,864 in the last three months. Insiders own 16.62% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Duolingo

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DUOL. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Duolingo by 1,868.2% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 433 shares of the company’s stock worth $134,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in Duolingo by 123.9% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 87,556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,190,000 after buying an additional 48,451 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth raised its holdings in Duolingo by 28.3% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 2,021 shares of the company’s stock valued at $628,000 after buying an additional 446 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its position in Duolingo by 142.1% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 26,075 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,352,000 after buying an additional 15,306 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC bought a new stake in Duolingo in the second quarter worth $205,000. 91.59% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.