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

Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DUOL) saw a significant growth in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,300,000 shares, a growth of 6.6% from the December 31st total of 1,220,000 shares. Approximately 3.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 528,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.5 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Duolingo news, insider Severin Hacker sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.95, for a total transaction of $3,339,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 72 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,044.40. This trade represents a 99.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Natalie Glance sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.36, for a total transaction of $470,040.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 136,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,855,113.60. This represents a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 281,124 shares of company stock worth $95,033,738. 18.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Duolingo

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Duolingo by 26.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,663,234 shares of the company’s stock worth $751,085,000 after buying an additional 564,173 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Duolingo by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,076,273 shares of the company’s stock valued at $303,530,000 after acquiring an additional 36,923 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Duolingo by 2.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 672,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $189,790,000 after purchasing an additional 16,481 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Duolingo by 30,909.9% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 355,063 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,135,000 after purchasing an additional 353,918 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Duolingo by 42.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 342,280 shares of the company’s stock worth $96,530,000 after buying an additional 101,653 shares during the period. 91.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. DA Davidson increased their target price on Duolingo from $250.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Bank of America downgraded Duolingo from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $355.00 to $375.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Duolingo in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $425.00 target price on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Duolingo from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Duolingo from $183.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Duolingo presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $355.55.

Duolingo Trading Up 2.8 %

DUOL stock traded up $10.30 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $374.74. 159,962 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 520,878. Duolingo has a 1-year low of $145.05 and a 1-year high of $378.48. The company has a current ratio of 3.09, a quick ratio of 3.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.48 billion, a PE ratio of 204.78 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $341.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $281.66.

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.14. Duolingo had a return on equity of 11.74% and a net margin of 12.59%. The firm had revenue of $192.59 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $189.19 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.06 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 39.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Duolingo will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.