First Trust Advisors LP Decreases Stock Holdings in Duolingo, Inc. $DUOL

First Trust Advisors LP lowered its holdings in shares of Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DUOL) by 18.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 99,433 shares of the company’s stock after selling 22,396 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Duolingo were worth $9,801,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in DUOL. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Duolingo by 1,868.2% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 433 shares of the company’s stock valued at $134,000 after buying an additional 411 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Duolingo by 123.9% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 87,556 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,190,000 after acquiring an additional 48,451 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth increased its stake in Duolingo by 28.3% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 2,021 shares of the company’s stock worth $628,000 after acquiring an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. Amundi increased its stake in Duolingo by 142.1% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 26,075 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,352,000 after acquiring an additional 15,306 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC purchased a new stake in Duolingo during the second quarter valued at approximately $205,000. 91.59% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Duolingo

In related news, General Counsel Stephen C. Chen sold 1,977 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 52,807 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,999,403.27. The trade was a 3.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 Natalie Glance sold 3,360 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.59, for a total value of $381,662.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 173,401 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,696,619.59. This trade represents a 1.90% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 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. Insiders sold a total of 9,506 shares of company stock valued at $1,073,864 in the last three months. Company insiders own 16.62% of the company’s stock.

Duolingo Stock Performance

DUOL stock opened at $134.81 on Friday. Duolingo, Inc. has a twelve month low of $87.89 and a twelve month high of $468.00. The firm has a market cap of $6.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.51, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.88. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $123.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $115.99. The company has a quick ratio of 2.62, a current ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $291.97 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $288.60 million. Duolingo had a net margin of 38.44% and a return on equity of 14.07%. The business’s revenue was up 26.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.72 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Duolingo, Inc. will post 2.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Evercore set a $97.00 price objective on Duolingo in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Duolingo in a research note on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Duolingo from $95.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Duolingo from $95.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Duolingo in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $152.29.

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.