Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) Shares Down 4.2% After Insider Selling

Key Points

• Duolingo's shares dropped 4.2% following significant insider selling, with 10,000 shares sold by co-founder Severin Hacker at an average price of $288.94.
• Wall Street analysts have mixed ratings on Duolingo, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a target price of $419.32 based on various ratings from multiple firms.
• Duolingo reported quarterly earnings with a 41.5% revenue increase, posting $252.27 million in revenue and an EPS of $0.91, exceeding analyst expectations.

Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DUOL - Get Free Report) traded down 4.2% on Tuesday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $297.02 and last traded at $296.50. 164,965 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 1,143,845 shares. The stock had previously closed at $309.34.

Specifically, insider Severin Hacker sold 10,000 shares of Duolingo stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.94, for a total transaction of $2,889,400.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 72 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,803.68. The trade was a 99.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DUOL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Duolingo from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 30th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Duolingo from $375.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Citizens Jmp reduced their price objective on Duolingo from $475.00 to $450.00 and set a "mkt outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Argus began coverage on Duolingo in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $575.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Duolingo in a research report on Monday, September 8th. They issued an "underweight" rating and a $239.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $419.32.

Duolingo Stock Down 3.7%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 2.81 and a current ratio of 2.81. The company's 50-day moving average price is $326.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $379.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 121.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.85.

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, beating 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 company had revenue of $252.27 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $240.84 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.51 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 41.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Duolingo, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Duolingo

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Duolingo by 110.5% during the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 990,903 shares of the company's stock worth $307,716,000 after buying an additional 520,069 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Duolingo in the second quarter valued at approximately $192,965,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Duolingo by 24.1% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,346,278 shares of the company's stock valued at $418,073,000 after purchasing an additional 261,212 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Duolingo by 41,959.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 239,737 shares of the company's stock worth $74,448,000 after acquiring an additional 239,167 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Duolingo by 105.9% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 415,221 shares of the company's stock valued at $170,249,000 after buying an additional 213,529 shares in the last quarter. 91.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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