Empowered Funds LLC Purchases 17,296 Shares of Duolingo, Inc. $DUOL

Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DUOL) by 917.1% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 19,182 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,296 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Duolingo were worth $1,891,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Duolingo by 3.1% in the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 18,708 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,844,000 after purchasing an additional 555 shares during the last quarter. SummitTX Capital L.P. lifted its position in Duolingo by 286.6% during the 1st quarter. SummitTX Capital L.P. now owns 12,173 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,200,000 after buying an additional 9,024 shares in the last quarter. Lombard Odier Asset Management USA Corp acquired a new position in shares of Duolingo during the 1st quarter worth about $248,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Duolingo by 91.3% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 603,806 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,517,000 after acquiring an additional 288,252 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caxton Associates LLP increased its position in shares of Duolingo by 2,526.0% in the first quarter. Caxton Associates LLP now owns 36,948 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,642,000 after acquiring an additional 35,541 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.59% of the company’s stock.

Key Duolingo News

Here are the key news stories impacting Duolingo this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Duolingo reported second-quarter revenue of approximately $298.5 million, up 18.3% year over year and ahead of analysts’ expectations. Adjusted earnings of $0.66 per share also exceeded consensus estimates of roughly $0.60-$0.61. DUOL Q2 Earnings Beat Estimates on Strong User Growth
• Positive Sentiment: User momentum remained strong, with daily active users increasing 23% year over year and paid subscribers also growing. Management said lower artificial-intelligence costs should support its profitability outlook, while it continues targeting 100 million daily active users by 2028.
• Positive Sentiment: Needham reaffirmed its “buy” rating and $145 price target, implying meaningful upside from the current trading level. Needham Reaffirms Duolingo Buy Rating
• Neutral Sentiment: Truist raised its price target from $100 to $120 but maintained a “hold” rating, signaling limited near-term upside in its view.
• Neutral Sentiment: Duolingo may discontinue its Max subscription tier as it prioritizes broader user growth. The change could simplify the product lineup but may affect monetization and average revenue per user.
• Negative Sentiment: Third-quarter revenue guidance of $302 million-$302 million came in below Wall Street’s approximately $303.9 million expectation. The forecast revived concerns that Duolingo’s growth engine is slowing, overshadowing the quarterly beat. Duolingo’s lower-than-expected revenue forecast overshadows quarterly beat
• Negative Sentiment: Although revenue rose, quarterly EPS fell from $0.91 to $0.66 year over year, while net income declined 26%, adding to pressure on the stock.
• Negative Sentiment: Bank of America downgraded Duolingo to “underperform,” reinforcing concerns about valuation and decelerating growth.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DUOL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Duolingo from $94.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Wedbush began coverage on shares of Duolingo in a report on Thursday, July 16th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $139.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Duolingo from $95.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Duolingo from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on Duolingo from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Duolingo has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $148.24.

Insider Activity at Duolingo

In other news, General Counsel Stephen C. Chen sold 1,977 shares of Duolingo stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.61, for a total value of $224,606.97. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 52,807 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,999,403.27. This trade represents a 3.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Robert Meese sold 1,420 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.16, for a total value of $159,267.20. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 170,745 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,150,759.20. This trade represents a 0.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold 9,506 shares of company stock valued at $1,073,864 over the last three months. 16.62% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Duolingo Trading Down 9.4%

Shares of DUOL stock opened at $122.58 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $5.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.87. Duolingo, Inc. has a 1 year low of $87.89 and a 1 year high of $468.00. The company has a current ratio of 2.62, a quick ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $125.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $114.99.

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $298.45 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $295.58 million. Duolingo had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 35.88%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.91 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Duolingo, Inc. will post 2.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Duolingo 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.