Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) Stock Rating Lowered by Truist Financial

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) was downgraded by Truist Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They presently have a $100.00 price target on the stock. Truist Financial’s target price would indicate a potential downside of 0.99% from the company’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. DA Davidson dropped their price target on shares of Duolingo from $205.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Duolingo from $390.00 to $230.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $101.00 price target (down from $270.00) on shares of Duolingo in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $95.00 price target (down from $200.00) on shares of Duolingo in a research report on Friday. Finally, KeyCorp lowered Duolingo from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seventeen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Duolingo presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $220.26.

Duolingo Trading Down 14.0%

Shares of DUOL opened at $101.00 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $144.48 and a 200 day moving average of $223.84. Duolingo has a fifty-two week low of $91.99 and a fifty-two week high of $544.93. The firm has a market cap of $4.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 2.82 and a current ratio of 2.82.

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.12. The business 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%. Duolingo’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Duolingo will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Robert Meese sold 1,000 shares of Duolingo stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.06, for a total transaction of $110,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 122,636 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,497,318.16. This trade represents a 0.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Stephen C. Chen sold 1,901 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.26, for a total value of $215,307.26. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 30,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,459,526.70. The trade was a 5.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 14,939 shares of company stock worth $1,676,291. 15.67% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust bought a new position in shares of Duolingo in the 2nd quarter worth $40,000. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp bought a new stake in shares of Duolingo during the 3rd quarter worth $32,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in Duolingo by 82.2% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 133 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp bought a new position in Duolingo in the third quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, EFG International AG purchased a new stake in Duolingo during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. 91.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key 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.