Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) Cut to Hold at Truist Financial

Truist Financial downgraded shares of Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Friday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $100.00 target price on the stock.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Duolingo to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Evercore reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $114.00 price objective on shares of Duolingo in a report on Friday. Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $100.00 target price (down from $300.00) on shares of Duolingo in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $100.00 price target (down from $245.00) on shares of Duolingo in a research note on Friday. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their price objective on Duolingo from $205.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seventeen have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Duolingo presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $220.26.

Duolingo Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ DUOL opened at $101.00 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $144.48 and its 200 day moving average is $223.10. The stock has a market cap of $4.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.85, a P/E/G ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 0.90. Duolingo has a 1-year low of $91.99 and a 1-year high of $544.93. The company has a current ratio of 2.61, a quick ratio of 2.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $282.87 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $275.95 million. Duolingo had a net margin of 39.91% and a return on equity of 14.88%. The firm’s revenue was up 35.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Duolingo will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Duolingo

In other news, CFO Matthew Skaruppa sold 3,986 shares of Duolingo stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.52, for a total transaction of $452,490.72. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 31,631 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,590,751.12. The trade was a 11.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Natalie Glance sold 3,545 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.51, for a total transaction of $402,392.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 115,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,096,783.80. The trade was a 2.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 14,939 shares of company stock worth $1,676,291. 18.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its stake in Duolingo by 1,868.2% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 433 shares of the company’s stock worth $134,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Duolingo by 123.9% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 87,556 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,190,000 after buying an additional 48,451 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth increased its stake in shares of Duolingo by 28.3% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 2,021 shares of the company’s stock worth $628,000 after acquiring an additional 446 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. purchased a new position in Duolingo during the 2nd quarter valued at about $865,000. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Duolingo during the second quarter worth about $437,000. Institutional investors own 91.59% of the company’s stock.

More Duolingo News

Here are the key news stories impacting Duolingo this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results beat estimates — revenue and EPS topped expectations and the company reported strong margin metrics. Earnings Report
• Positive Sentiment: User scale: Duolingo closed 2025 with >50M daily active users and topped $1B in bookings — evidence of continued product adoption. Shareholder Letter
• Positive Sentiment: Strong full-year profitability: reports note roughly $400M profit for 2025, underlining unit economics at scale. Profit Article
• Neutral Sentiment: Management is explicitly shifting to prioritize user growth over near-term monetization, saying bookings and revenue growth will slow as they aim for 100M DAUs by 2028. Reuters Strategy Piece
• Neutral Sentiment: Management set explicit DAU growth targets and framed short-term profitability trade-offs as part of a longer-term expansion plan. Seeking Alpha
• Negative Sentiment: Guidance disappointment: FY‑2026 and Q1 2026 revenue/bookings guidance came in below Street expectations, triggering sharp intraday selling. Guidance/Miss Report
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst downgrades and price-target cuts accelerated the sell-off (multiple firms cut targets and/or ratings after the call). Analyst Moves
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/litigation risk: investor law firms have launched probes into DUOL, increasing uncertainty and potential legal overhang. Investigation Alert
• Negative Sentiment: High-volume selling and negative press amplified moves — multiple outlets flagged a steep intraday decline and described investor concern over the strategy shift. Barron’s

About Duolingo

Duolingo, Inc (NASDAQ:DUOL) is a technology-driven education company that operates a widely used language-learning platform. Founded in 2011 by Luis von Ahn and Severin Hacker, Duolingo offers a freemium service featuring bite-sized lessons, gamified exercises and adaptive learning algorithms. The company’s core product is its mobile and web application, which supports instruction in more than 40 languages, ranging from widely spoken tongues such as English and Spanish to lesser-taught options including Irish and Swahili.

In addition to its flagship language courses, Duolingo has expanded its product suite to include the Duolingo English Test, an on-demand, computer-based English proficiency exam designed for academic and professional admissions.