Duolingo’s (DUOL) Hold Rating Reiterated at Argus

Argus reissued their hold rating on shares of Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) in a research report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $146.00 target price on the stock.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank set a $120.00 price objective on shares of Duolingo in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Bank of America lowered shares of Duolingo from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $103.00 to $93.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Duolingo from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Citigroup raised shares of Duolingo from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Duolingo from $95.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Duolingo presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $132.65.

Duolingo Stock Up 1.4%

DUOL stock opened at $142.86 on Tuesday. Duolingo has a fifty-two week low of $87.89 and a fifty-two week high of $353.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.93, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.87. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $131.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $115.19.

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.06. Duolingo had a net margin of 35.88% and a return on equity of 12.10%. The company had revenue of $298.45 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $295.58 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.91 earnings per share. Duolingo’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Duolingo will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Duolingo

In related news, General Counsel Stephen C. Chen sold 1,024 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.13, for a total value of $132,229.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 51,841 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,694,228.33. The trade was a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Natalie Glance sold 2,751 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.13, for a total transaction of $355,236.63. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 170,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,036,034.50. This represents a 1.59% decrease in their position. 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 sold a total of 6,668 shares of company stock valued at $874,382 over the last quarter. 16.62% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Duolingo

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Duolingo by 12,171.5% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 5,119,655 shares of the company’s stock worth $588,863,000 after acquiring an additional 5,077,935 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Duolingo by 511.2% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,332,301 shares of the company’s stock valued at $131,325,000 after acquiring an additional 1,114,315 shares during the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System increased its stake in Duolingo by 112.9% in the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 1,193,307 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,624,000 after acquiring an additional 632,807 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd raised its position in Duolingo by 1,715,575.9% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 497,546 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,319,000 after purchasing an additional 497,517 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Duolingo during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $86,159,000. 91.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.