Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) Price Target Lowered to $85.00 at DA Davidson

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) had its price target reduced by analysts at DA Davidson from $170.00 to $85.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the stock. DA Davidson’s target price indicates a potential downside of 12.13% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on DUOL. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Duolingo in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on Duolingo from $300.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Barclays dropped their price objective on Duolingo from $390.00 to $230.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of Duolingo in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Duolingo from $185.00 to $160.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Five research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $220.26.

Duolingo Price Performance

NASDAQ DUOL traded down $20.72 during trading on Friday, reaching $96.74. 16,009,821 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,861,550. Duolingo has a 1-year low of $91.99 and a 1-year high of $544.93. The company has a market cap of $4.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.24, a P/E/G ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.86. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $146.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $226.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 2.82 and a current ratio of 2.82.

Insider Activity

In other Duolingo news, CFO Matthew Skaruppa sold 3,986 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.52, for a total value of $452,490.72. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 31,631 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,590,751.12. This trade represents a 11.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Stephen C. Chen sold 1,901 shares of Duolingo stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.26, for a total transaction of $215,307.26. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 30,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,459,526.70. This represents a 5.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 14,939 shares of company stock worth $1,676,291 over the last three months. Company insiders own 15.67% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its position in shares of Duolingo by 71.9% during the fourth quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 4,861,445 shares of the company’s stock worth $853,184,000 after purchasing an additional 2,033,611 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Duolingo by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,647,951 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,495,733,000 after purchasing an additional 116,135 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Duolingo by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,241,378 shares of the company’s stock worth $393,362,000 after buying an additional 11,140 shares during the period. Dragoneer Investment Group LLC raised its holdings in Duolingo by 324.4% during the 3rd quarter. Dragoneer Investment Group LLC now owns 1,580,787 shares of the company’s stock worth $508,760,000 after buying an additional 1,208,346 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its stake in Duolingo by 0.5% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,164,387 shares of the company’s stock valued at $477,422,000 after buying an additional 6,109 shares in the last quarter. 91.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines Impacting Duolingo

Here are the key news stories impacting Duolingo this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results beat expectations — EPS $0.91 and revenue ~$283M; company reported record user metrics (50M+ DAU) and topped $1B in annual bookings, showing solid underlying demand. Duolingo Q4 & Full-Year Results
• Positive Sentiment: Management set an ambitious long-term user goal — targeting ~100M daily active users by 2028 and emphasizing DAU growth over short-term monetization; this could expand the addressable market if execution succeeds. Duolingo targets 100M DAU by 2028
• Neutral Sentiment: Mixed analyst updates — several firms reaffirm neutral/sector‑perform ratings with price targets near $95–$101, while Needham cut its target from $300 to $145 but kept a Buy — signaling varied views on trade‑offs between growth and near‑term profits. Analyst reactions (Benzinga)
• Negative Sentiment: Guidance disappointed — FY‑2026 revenue and Q1 bookings guidance came in below Street consensus and management warned of slower bookings as it prioritizes user growth, which was the primary driver of the sell-off. Reuters: softer bookings guidance
• Negative Sentiment: Investor legal risk — multiple shareholder law firms (Faruqi & Faruqi; Johnson Fistel) have launched investigations into Duolingo, increasing legal and reputational uncertainty. Faruqi & Faruqi investigation Johnson Fistel investigation
• Negative Sentiment: Market pressure — elevated short interest (≈23% of float) and a large spike in trading volume magnified downside moves as bearish positioning and stop‑losses accelerated selling.

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.