Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Acquires 14,219 Shares of Duolingo, Inc. $DUOL

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group increased its Duolingo stake by 117% in Q2, buying 14,219 shares to hold 26,367 shares (about $10.8M), while institutional investors collectively own roughly 91.6% of the company.
• Duolingo posted a blowout quarter with $5.95 EPS vs. $0.72 expected and $271.7M in revenue, up 41.1% year-over-year and producing a ~40% net margin.
• Insiders sold 98,904 shares (~$25.4M) in the last quarter (including sales by Severin Hacker and Natalie Glance), and analysts are mixed — consensus is a "Hold" with an average target of $340.53 after several price cuts.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DUOL - Free Report) by 117.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 26,367 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 14,219 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.06% of Duolingo worth $10,811,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bryce Point Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Duolingo during the second quarter worth approximately $946,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Duolingo during the 2nd quarter worth $14,377,000. Citigroup Inc. raised its position in shares of Duolingo by 129.8% during the 2nd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 197,052 shares of the company's stock valued at $80,795,000 after acquiring an additional 111,310 shares during the last quarter. Profund Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Duolingo by 165.5% in the 2nd quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 2,456 shares of the company's stock worth $1,007,000 after purchasing an additional 1,531 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its stake in shares of Duolingo by 39.0% during the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 3,186 shares of the company's stock worth $995,000 after purchasing an additional 894 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.59% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DUOL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Duolingo in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley set a $300.00 target price on shares of Duolingo in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. KeyCorp cut shares of Duolingo from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Duolingo from $390.00 to $230.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, DA Davidson reduced their target price on Duolingo from $300.00 to $220.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $340.53.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Severin Hacker sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.94, for a total transaction of $2,889,400.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 72 shares in the company, valued at $20,803.68. This represents a 99.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Natalie Glance sold 3,283 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.30, for a total transaction of $1,025,280.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 116,171 shares of the company's stock, valued at $36,280,203.30. This represents a 2.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 98,904 shares of company stock worth $25,379,787 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 18.30% of the company's stock.

Duolingo Stock Performance

DUOL opened at $172.78 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.83. The business's 50-day moving average price is $276.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $359.60. Duolingo, Inc. has a 1 year low of $166.27 and a 1 year high of $544.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 2.82 and a quick ratio of 2.82.

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $5.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $5.23. The firm had revenue of $271.71 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $260.14 million. Duolingo had a return on equity of 14.02% and a net margin of 40.03%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 41.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.49 EPS. Duolingo has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Equities analysts expect that Duolingo, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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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