American Century Companies Inc. Decreases Stake in Duolingo, Inc. $DUOL

American Century Companies Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DUOL) by 66.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 105,283 shares of the company’s stock after selling 204,382 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.23% of Duolingo worth $33,884,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of DUOL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Duolingo by 3.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,647,951 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,495,733,000 after purchasing an additional 116,135 shares during the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its holdings in Duolingo by 28.6% during the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 2,827,834 shares of the company’s stock worth $910,110,000 after purchasing an additional 628,943 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Duolingo by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,164,387 shares of the company’s stock valued at $477,422,000 after purchasing an additional 6,109 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Duolingo by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 759,956 shares of the company’s stock valued at $311,930,000 after purchasing an additional 23,356 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Duolingo during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $192,965,000. 91.59% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

More Duolingo News

Here are the key news stories impacting Duolingo this week:

• Positive Sentiment: AI-first growth: Zacks highlights Duolingo’s AI-driven platform, ~50M daily active users and $1B in bookings, arguing its data moat and new AI courses/subscriptions support an ambition to reach 100M DAUs — a clear growth thesis that could re-accelerate monetization and revenue. Duolingo’s AI-First Strategy & Data Secures Dominance in Ed-Tech
• Positive Sentiment: Insider buying: Director James H. Shelton purchased 5,000 shares at roughly $99.76, signaling management-level confidence and providing short-term sentiment support. James Shelton Buys 5,000 Shares of Duolingo
• Positive Sentiment: Valuation/financial reset view: A Seeking Alpha piece frames the stock’s drop as a reset — notes $1.12B cash, minimal debt and very healthy margins (~72% gross, ~40% net) — suggesting the balance sheet and profitability give runway to invest in user growth without solvency risk. Duolingo’s Reset Opportunity
• Neutral Sentiment: Options activity: Analysts flag moves in the options market that could presage larger directional bets or volatility, but options flow is not definitive about fundamentals. Is the Options Market Predicting a Spike in Duolingo Stock?
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest report appears inconsistent (reported as a large increase but shows zero shares), so current short-interest impact is unclear — monitor reliable short data for true positioning.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/securities probes: Faruqi & Faruqi and Pomerantz have launched investigations into Duolingo relating to recent market moves — these class-action inquiries increase legal risk and can pressure sentiment and liquidity until resolved. Faruqi & Faruqi Launches Investigation into Duolingo Pomerantz Investigates Claims
• Negative Sentiment: Institutional trim: Gilder Gagnon Howe reduced its position by ~66,397 shares (~$15.7M) last quarter — a meaningful sale from an active investor that can weigh on sentiment if others follow. Gilder Gagnon Howe Dumps 66,000 Duolingo Shares
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive/customer anecdote: A Lifehacker piece recounts a user switching to Babbel for better learning outcomes — anecdotal but a reminder of competition in retention/engagement metrics that underpin long-term monetization. I Ditched Duolingo for Babbel

Insider Transactions at Duolingo

In other news, Director James H. Shelton purchased 5,000 shares of Duolingo stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $99.76 per share, with a total value of $498,800.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 9,632 shares in the company, valued at $960,888.32. The trade was a 107.94% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Robert Meese sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.06, for a total transaction of $110,060.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 122,636 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,497,318.16. This represents a 0.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 14,939 shares of company stock valued at $1,676,291 over the last three months. 15.67% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on DUOL shares. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $100.00 price target (down from $245.00) on shares of Duolingo in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on shares of Duolingo from $300.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Duolingo from $185.00 to $160.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $100.00 target price (down from $300.00) on shares of Duolingo in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Duolingo in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Duolingo has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $206.32.

Duolingo Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ DUOL opened at $101.92 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.82, a current ratio of 2.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $136.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $215.50. Duolingo, Inc. has a 52-week low of $91.99 and a 52-week high of $544.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.96, a P/E/G ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 0.90.

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) last announced 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. Duolingo had a return on equity of 14.88% and a net margin of 39.91%.The business had revenue of $282.87 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $275.95 million. The firm’s revenue was up 35.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Duolingo, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current year.

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.