Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) Sets New 12-Month Low - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Duolingo shares hit a new 52-week low of $136.99 (last traded $138.21) on Thursday, trading roughly 1% lower on volume near 948,647 shares.
• Analysts have trimmed targets (Scotiabank cut from $600 to $300; Goldman cut from $425 to $250), and the stock carries an average rating of "Hold" with an average price target of $301.75.
• Despite the sell-off, Duolingo reported a sizable quarterly beat—$5.95 EPS vs. $0.72 expected and revenue of $271.7M (up 41.1% y/y)—while insiders sold about 43,169 shares (~$8.46M) over the last quarter.

Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DUOL - Get Free Report) shares hit a new 52-week low during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $136.99 and last traded at $138.2150, with a volume of 948647 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $142.80.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DUOL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of Duolingo from $600.00 to $300.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Citigroup restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Duolingo in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Citizens Jmp downgraded Duolingo from a "market outperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. UBS Group set a $245.00 price objective on Duolingo in a report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Duolingo from $425.00 to $250.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $301.75.

Duolingo Trading Down 1.0%

The company has a quick ratio of 2.82, a current ratio of 2.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $176.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $260.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.88, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.87.

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $5.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $5.23. Duolingo had a net margin of 40.03% and a return on equity of 14.02%. The company had revenue of $271.71 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $260.14 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.49 EPS. The business's revenue was up 41.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Duolingo, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Severin Hacker sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.74, for a total transaction of $1,727,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 72 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,437.28. This represents a 99.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Natalie Glance sold 2,471 shares of Duolingo stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.79, for a total value of $434,377.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 111,166 shares in the company, valued at $19,541,871.14. This represents a 2.17% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 43,169 shares of company stock worth $8,457,951 over the last quarter. 18.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Duolingo

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its position in Duolingo by 71.9% during the 4th quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 4,861,445 shares of the company's stock worth $853,184,000 after purchasing an additional 2,033,611 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Duolingo by 3.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,647,951 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,495,733,000 after buying an additional 116,135 shares during the period. Dragoneer Investment Group LLC raised its position in Duolingo by 324.4% during the third quarter. Dragoneer Investment Group LLC now owns 1,580,787 shares of the company's stock valued at $508,760,000 after buying an additional 1,208,346 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Duolingo by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,164,387 shares of the company's stock worth $477,422,000 after acquiring an additional 6,109 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Duolingo by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 759,956 shares of the company's stock worth $311,930,000 after acquiring an additional 23,356 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.59% of the company's stock.

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.

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