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

Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DUOL) dropped 4.2% during trading on Tuesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $297.02 and last traded at $296.50. Approximately 164,965 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 86% from the average daily 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 value of $2,889,400.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 72 shares in the company, valued at $20,803.68. This trade represents a 99.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DUOL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Argus initiated coverage on shares of Duolingo in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $575.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Duolingo from $375.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. DA Davidson downgraded shares of Duolingo from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $500.00 to $300.00 in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Duolingo in a report on Monday, September 8th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $239.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Duolingo from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. One investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Duolingo has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $419.32.

Duolingo Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $13.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 123.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.85. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $324.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $378.67. The company has a quick ratio of 2.81, a current ratio of 2.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $252.27 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $240.84 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.51 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 41.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Duolingo, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Duolingo

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Duolingo in the first quarter valued at $3,772,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its stake in shares of Duolingo by 39.0% in the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 3,186 shares of the company’s stock valued at $995,000 after acquiring an additional 894 shares in the last quarter. Encompass More Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Duolingo in the first quarter valued at about $762,000. Jump Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Duolingo by 563.7% in the first quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 104,693 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,511,000 after acquiring an additional 88,918 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Silvant Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Duolingo in the first quarter valued at about $1,946,000. 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.