Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) Sets New 12-Month Low After Analyst Downgrade

Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DUOL) shares hit a new 52-week low during trading on Tuesday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on the stock from $300.00 to $200.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Duolingo traded as low as $147.70 and last traded at $150.8540, with a volume of 404828 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $150.16.

Several other research firms also recently commented on DUOL. KeyCorp downgraded Duolingo from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Duolingo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $301.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price objective on shares of Duolingo from $460.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Duolingo from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Duolingo from a “market outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Duolingo currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $303.50.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Matthew Skaruppa sold 3,059 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total transaction of $537,649.84. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 37,487 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,588,715.12. The trade was a 7.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Stephen C. Chen sold 1,514 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.87, for a total transaction of $266,267.18. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 31,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,547,291.54. This trade represents a 4.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 43,169 shares of company stock valued at $8,457,951 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 18.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Duolingo

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. SteelPeak Wealth LLC grew its stake in Duolingo by 79.9% in the 4th quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 18,002 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,159,000 after purchasing an additional 7,997 shares during the period. MRA Advisory Group boosted its holdings in shares of Duolingo by 57.3% in the 4th quarter. MRA Advisory Group now owns 1,972 shares of the company’s stock worth $346,000 after buying an additional 718 shares during the last quarter. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC bought a new position in Duolingo during the fourth quarter valued at about $254,000. Dream Peak Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in Duolingo during the fourth quarter worth about $18,345,000. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. increased its holdings in Duolingo by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 61,711 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,830,000 after buying an additional 1,989 shares during the last quarter. 91.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Duolingo Trading Down 1.1%

The company has a quick ratio of 2.82, a current ratio of 2.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market cap of $6.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.87. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $179.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $269.65.

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $5.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $5.23. The firm had revenue of $271.71 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $260.14 million. Duolingo had a net margin of 40.03% and a return on equity of 14.02%. The company’s revenue was up 41.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.49 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Duolingo, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current year.

About Duolingo

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.