Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) Raised to "Hold" at Baird R W

Key Points

• Baird R W has upgraded Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) to a "hold" rating, signaling a shift in investment outlook for the stock.
• Analysts have varying opinions on Duolingo, with Morgan Stanley raising its price target to $500, while DA Davidson lowered its target to $300, reflecting mixed expectations.
• Duolingo recently reported a quarterly earnings per share of $0.91, surpassing estimates and showing a 41.5% increase in revenue compared to the prior year.

Baird R W upgraded shares of Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL - Free Report) to a hold rating in a report released on Friday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Citizens Jmp cut their price target on shares of Duolingo from $475.00 to $450.00 and set a "mkt outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 28th. KeyCorp raised shares of Duolingo from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $460.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, August 18th. Argus began coverage on shares of Duolingo in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $575.00 price target for the company. Robert W. Baird began coverage on shares of Duolingo in a report on Friday. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $280.00 price target for the company. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Duolingo in a report on Monday, August 18th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $400.00 price target for the company. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Duolingo has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $420.63.

Duolingo Price Performance

DUOL stock traded up $0.10 during trading on Friday, hitting $271.28. The company had a trading volume of 1,490,250 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,783,527. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 111.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.85. The business has a 50 day moving average of $345.97 and a 200 day moving average of $381.94. Duolingo has a fifty-two week low of $208.51 and a fifty-two week high of $544.93. The company has a current ratio of 2.81, a quick ratio of 2.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.91 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 firm had revenue of $252.27 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $240.84 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.51 earnings per share. Duolingo's revenue for the quarter was up 41.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Duolingo will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel Stephen C. Chen sold 1,515 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.36, for a total value of $486,860.40. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 32,638 shares in the company, valued at $10,488,547.68. This represents a 4.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Robert Meese sold 1,444 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.03, for a total value of $475,119.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 120,080 shares in the company, valued at $39,509,922.40. This represents a 1.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 70,508 shares of company stock worth $25,742,721 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 18.30% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Duolingo

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Centaurus Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Duolingo in the 2nd quarter valued at about $115,000. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Duolingo by 10.5% in the 2nd quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 4,200 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,722,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in Duolingo by 4.0% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 9,244 shares of the company's stock worth $3,790,000 after buying an additional 359 shares during the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its holdings in Duolingo by 68.8% in the second quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 115,494 shares of the company's stock worth $47,355,000 after buying an additional 47,070 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cim LLC increased its holdings in Duolingo by 44.5% in the second quarter. Cim LLC now owns 7,073 shares of the company's stock worth $2,900,000 after buying an additional 2,179 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.59% 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.