Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DUOL) Short Interest Update

Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DUOL) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,510,000 shares, a growth of 22.8% from the February 28th total of 1,230,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 793,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.9 days. Approximately 4.0% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on DUOL. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Duolingo in a research note on Friday, January 24th. They set a “hold” rating and a $370.00 price objective on the stock. Bank of America lowered Duolingo from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $355.00 to $375.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. UBS Group set a $400.00 price objective on Duolingo in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Duolingo in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Duolingo from $295.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $377.08.

Duolingo Trading Up 3.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:DUOL traded up $10.33 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $337.71. The company had a trading volume of 274,609 shares, compared to its average volume of 720,620. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $346.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $325.78. 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 firm has a market cap of $15.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 184.54 and a beta of 0.92. Duolingo has a 1-year low of $145.05 and a 1-year high of $441.77.

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.19). Duolingo had a net margin of 12.59% and a return on equity of 11.74%. The firm had revenue of $209.55 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $205.49 million. Research analysts predict that Duolingo will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Matthew Skaruppa sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.48, for a total value of $1,622,400.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 67,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,977,030.40. This represents a 6.87 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Natalie Glance sold 2,667 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $435.28, for a total value of $1,160,891.76. Following the sale, the insider now owns 129,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,400,100.16. This trade represents a 2.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 100,850 shares of company stock worth $34,389,695. Company insiders own 18.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Duolingo

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DUOL. Townsquare Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Duolingo in the third quarter valued at approximately $277,000. Glenmede Trust Co. NA bought a new stake in Duolingo in the 3rd quarter valued at $243,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new position in shares of Duolingo during the third quarter valued at about $717,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Duolingo in the third quarter valued at about $4,350,000. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors grew its position in Duolingo by 90.8% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 12,871 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,630,000 after buying an additional 6,126 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.59% of the company’s stock.

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.