Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DUOL) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DUOL) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 2,030,000 shares, a decrease of 5.6% from the September 15th total of 2,150,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 595,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.4 days. Currently, 5.7% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on DUOL. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Duolingo in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. JMP Securities lowered Duolingo from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Duolingo from $255.00 to $303.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Duolingo in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of Duolingo from $245.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $270.56.

Duolingo Stock Performance

NASDAQ DUOL opened at $290.59 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.53 billion, a PE ratio of 299.58 and a beta of 0.79. Duolingo has a 1-year low of $140.16 and a 1-year high of $297.56. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $236.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $211.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 3.28 and a quick ratio of 3.28.

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $178.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $177.13 million. Duolingo had a net margin of 10.44% and a return on equity of 9.64%. The business’s revenue was up 40.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.08 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Duolingo will post 1.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Duolingo

In other news, CFO Matthew Skaruppa sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.50, for a total transaction of $1,332,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 95,731 shares in the company, valued at $15,939,211.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Duolingo news, insider Natalie Glance sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.91, for a total value of $421,365.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 138,260 shares in the company, valued at $38,838,616.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Matthew Skaruppa sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.50, for a total transaction of $1,332,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 95,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,939,211.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 88,374 shares of company stock worth $18,571,912 in the last quarter. 18.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Duolingo

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Larson Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Duolingo during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Blue Trust Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Duolingo during the second quarter valued at $32,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Duolingo by 350.0% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 171 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the period. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC bought a new position in shares of Duolingo during the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp bought a new stake in Duolingo during the 2nd quarter valued at $40,000. Institutional investors 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.