Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DUOL) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DUOL) saw a large growth in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,440,000 shares, a growth of 5.1% from the January 15th total of 1,370,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 572,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.5 days. Currently, 4.0% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DUOL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Duolingo in a research note on Friday, January 24th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $370.00 price target for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Duolingo from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Bank of America lowered shares of Duolingo from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $355.00 to $375.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Duolingo from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Duolingo in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $425.00 target price for the company. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $355.55.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Duolingo news, insider Severin Hacker sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $391.46, for a total value of $3,914,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 72 shares in the company, valued at $28,185.12. This represents a 99.29 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Natalie Glance sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $369.33, for a total value of $553,995.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 132,239 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,839,829.87. The trade was a 1.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 289,624 shares of company stock valued at $98,478,298. 18.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Duolingo during the fourth quarter worth $549,000. Square Peg Capital PTY Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Duolingo during the fourth quarter worth $11,854,000. Redwood Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Duolingo during the fourth quarter worth $1,429,000. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Duolingo during the fourth quarter worth $4,734,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Duolingo by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,772 shares of the company’s stock worth $575,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. 91.59% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Duolingo Trading Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ DUOL traded up $2.37 on Monday, hitting $432.69. 724,261 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 538,330. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 3.09 and a current ratio of 3.09. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $349.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $296.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 236.44 and a beta of 0.89. Duolingo has a 52-week low of $145.05 and a 52-week high of $436.98.

About Duolingo

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.