Duolingo's (DUOL) "Buy" Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Key Points

• Needham & Company LLC has reaffirmed a “Buy” rating for Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) with a price target of $460.00, suggesting a potential upside of 63.85% from its previous closing price.
• Duolingo reported strong quarterly earnings, with earnings per share of $0.91, exceeding analysts' expectations, and a revenue increase of 41.5% compared to last year.
• Institutional investors hold 91.59% of Duolingo's stock, reflecting significant confidence in the company's future performance.

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating restated by analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $460.00 price target on the stock. Needham & Company LLC's price objective points to a potential upside of 58.13% from the company's previous close.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Duolingo from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 30th. Raymond James Financial reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Duolingo in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. KeyCorp raised Duolingo from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $460.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Duolingo from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Baird R W raised Duolingo to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Duolingo presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $419.32.

Duolingo Stock Up 0.4%

NASDAQ DUOL traded up $1.23 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $290.90. 1,529,123 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,909,368. Duolingo has a 12 month low of $256.63 and a 12 month high of $544.93. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $327.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $377.79. The company has a current ratio of 2.81, a quick ratio of 2.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company has a market capitalization of $13.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 119.71, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.85.

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.36. The business had revenue of $252.27 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $240.84 million. Duolingo had a return on equity of 13.32% and a net margin of 13.24%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 41.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Duolingo will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Robert Meese sold 1,444 shares of Duolingo stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 approximately $39,509,922.40. The trade was a 1.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Matthew Skaruppa sold 10,937 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.39, for a total transaction of $3,471,294.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 43,345 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,757,269.55. This trade represents a 20.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 70,508 shares of company stock valued at $23,716,221 in the last ninety days. 15.67% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Duolingo in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Rise Advisors LLC boosted its position in Duolingo by 43.6% in the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 79 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in Duolingo in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its position in Duolingo by 4,750.0% in the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 97 shares of the company's stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Garde Capital Inc. bought a new position in Duolingo in the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. 91.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.