Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) Shares Down 7.6% Following Insider Selling

Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DUOL)’s stock price dropped 7.6% during trading on Tuesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $343.74 and last traded at $341.23. Approximately 793,611 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 23% from the average daily volume of 1,027,730 shares. The stock had previously closed at $369.19.

Specifically, insider Robert Meese sold 1,444 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.03, for a total value of $475,119.32. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 120,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,509,922.40. This represents a 1.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Natalie Glance sold 2,533 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.03, for a total transaction of $833,432.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 122,112 shares in the company, valued at $40,178,511.36. This trade represents a 2.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In related news, CFO Matthew Skaruppa sold 2,797 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.03, for a total transaction of $920,296.91. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 52,904 shares in the company, valued at $17,407,003.12. This represents a 5.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler set a $375.00 target price on shares of Duolingo in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Duolingo from $340.00 to $403.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. JMP Securities cut their price target on shares of Duolingo from $475.00 to $450.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 28th. UBS Group reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Duolingo in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded shares of Duolingo from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $460.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $451.35.

Duolingo Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 2.81 and a current ratio of 2.81. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $383.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $391.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 139.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.87.

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.36. The business had revenue of $252.27 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $240.84 million. Duolingo had a return on equity of 13.32% and a net margin of 13.24%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 41.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.51 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Duolingo, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Duolingo

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Rise Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Duolingo by 43.6% during the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 79 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in shares of Duolingo by 20.5% during the first quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 153 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Duolingo by 16.3% during the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 186 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in shares of Duolingo by 1.4% during the second quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,968 shares of the company’s stock valued at $807,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lido Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Duolingo by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 10,104 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,276,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.59% of the company’s stock.

Duolingo Company Profile

Duolingo, Inc operates as a mobile learning platform in the United States, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company offers courses in 40 different languages, including Spanish, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, and Chinese through its Duolingo app. It also provides a digital English language proficiency assessment exam.