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

Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DUOL) was the target of a large growth in short interest in 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 trading volume of 793,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.9 days. Currently, 4.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Duolingo Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:DUOL traded up $1.38 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $311.92. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 44,151 shares, compared to its average volume of 719,311. Duolingo has a fifty-two week low of $145.05 and a fifty-two week high of $441.77. 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 50 day moving average price of $346.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $325.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 171.01 and a beta of 0.92.

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.19). The business had revenue of $209.55 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $205.49 million. Duolingo had a return on equity of 11.74% and a net margin of 12.59%. As a group, analysts forecast that Duolingo will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Ahn Luis Von sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.00, for a total transaction of $2,568,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Stephen C. Chen sold 2,064 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $435.12, for a total value of $898,087.68. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 34,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,069,946.08. This represents a 5.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Corporate insiders own 18.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of DUOL. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Duolingo during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,994,000. Taika Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Duolingo in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,697,000. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Duolingo during the fourth quarter valued at about $429,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. purchased a new position in Duolingo during the third quarter worth about $4,350,000. Finally, Diversified Trust Co bought a new stake in Duolingo in the 4th quarter worth about $784,000. 91.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on DUOL shares. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Duolingo in a research note on Friday, January 24th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $370.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Duolingo from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Scotiabank began coverage on Duolingo in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $425.00 price target on the stock. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on Duolingo from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded shares of Duolingo from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $355.00 to $375.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $377.08.

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.