Jefferies Financial Group Issues Positive Forecast for Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) Stock Price

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) had its price objective lifted by research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $95.00 to $125.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “hold” rating on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s target price would indicate a potential downside of 5.55% from the company’s previous close.

DUOL has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Duolingo from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Evercore set a $97.00 price target on Duolingo in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Duolingo from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Weiss Ratings raised Duolingo from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Duolingo in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $165.24.

Duolingo Stock Performance

Shares of DUOL opened at $132.34 on Tuesday. Duolingo has a 12-month low of $87.89 and a 12-month high of $468.00. The stock has a market cap of $6.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.23, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.88. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $117.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $120.27.

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.10. Duolingo had a net margin of 38.44% and a return on equity of 14.07%. The business had revenue of $291.97 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $288.60 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.72 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 26.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Duolingo will post 2.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, General Counsel Stephen C. Chen sold 1,977 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.61, for a total transaction of $224,606.97. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed 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 Duolingo stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.16, for a total transaction of $159,267.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 170,745 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,150,759.20. The trade was a 0.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 9,506 shares of company stock worth $1,073,864. 16.62% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Duolingo

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in DUOL. Generali Investments Management Co LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Duolingo in the second quarter valued at $565,000. Everhart Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Duolingo during the second quarter worth about $313,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Duolingo in the 2nd quarter worth about $34,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Duolingo by 103.1% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,324 shares of the company’s stock valued at $152,000 after buying an additional 672 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Duolingo by 416.0% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 238,458 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,505,000 after buying an additional 192,245 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.59% of the company’s stock.

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.