Citigroup Reiterates “Neutral” Rating for Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL)

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reissued by investment analysts at Citigroup in a note issued to investors on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $101.00 price objective on the stock, down from their prior price objective of $270.00.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Evercore reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $114.00 target price on shares of Duolingo in a research note on Friday. Bank of America raised Duolingo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $301.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, January 5th. Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective (down from $300.00) on shares of Duolingo in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $100.00 target price (down from $245.00) on shares of Duolingo in a report on Friday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Duolingo from $425.00 to $250.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $220.26.

Duolingo Stock Performance

DUOL opened at $101.00 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.67 billion, a PE ratio of 11.85, a P/E/G ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 0.86. Duolingo has a 1 year low of $91.99 and a 1 year high of $544.93. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $144.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $223.84. The company has a current ratio of 2.82, a quick ratio of 2.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $282.87 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $275.95 million. Duolingo had a net margin of 40.03% and a return on equity of 14.02%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 35.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Duolingo will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Matthew Skaruppa sold 3,986 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.52, for a total value of $452,490.72. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 31,631 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,590,751.12. The trade was a 11.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Stephen C. Chen sold 1,901 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.26, for a total value of $215,307.26. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 30,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,459,526.70. This trade represents a 5.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 14,939 shares of company stock worth $1,676,291. 15.67% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Duolingo

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. New York Life Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Duolingo by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 4,067 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,668,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Duolingo by 3.5% during the second quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 940 shares of the company’s stock worth $385,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Duolingo by 5.0% during the second quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 818 shares of the company’s stock worth $335,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Generali Investments Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych grew its stake in shares of Duolingo by 22.2% during the third quarter. Generali Investments Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych now owns 220 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC increased its holdings in shares of Duolingo by 38.6% in the second quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. 91.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

More Duolingo News

Here are the key news stories impacting Duolingo this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results beat estimates — revenue and EPS topped expectations and the company reported strong margin metrics. Earnings Report
• Positive Sentiment: User scale: Duolingo closed 2025 with >50M daily active users and topped $1B in bookings — evidence of continued product adoption. Shareholder Letter
• Positive Sentiment: Strong full-year profitability: reports note roughly $400M profit for 2025, underlining unit economics at scale. Profit Article
• Neutral Sentiment: Management is explicitly shifting to prioritize user growth over near-term monetization, saying bookings and revenue growth will slow as they aim for 100M DAUs by 2028. Reuters Strategy Piece
• Neutral Sentiment: Management set explicit DAU growth targets and framed short-term profitability trade-offs as part of a longer-term expansion plan. Seeking Alpha
• Negative Sentiment: Guidance disappointment: FY‑2026 and Q1 2026 revenue/bookings guidance came in below Street expectations, triggering sharp intraday selling. Guidance/Miss Report
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst downgrades and price-target cuts accelerated the sell-off (multiple firms cut targets and/or ratings after the call). Analyst Moves
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/litigation risk: investor law firms have launched probes into DUOL, increasing uncertainty and potential legal overhang. Investigation Alert
• Negative Sentiment: High-volume selling and negative press amplified moves — multiple outlets flagged a steep intraday decline and described investor concern over the strategy shift. Barron’s

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.