Duolingo’s (DUOL) Equal Weight Rating Reiterated at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley reiterated their equal weight rating on shares of Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) in a research note released on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have a $100.00 price target on the stock, down from their prior price target of $245.00.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on DUOL. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Duolingo from $600.00 to $300.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Citigroup restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Duolingo in a report on Monday, January 12th. UBS Group set a $245.00 price target on shares of Duolingo in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Duolingo from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $245.00 price target on shares of Duolingo in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seventeen have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $220.26.

Duolingo Trading Down 14.0%

Shares of Duolingo stock opened at $101.00 on Friday. Duolingo has a fifty-two week low of $91.99 and a fifty-two week high of $544.93. The business’s fifty day moving average is $144.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $223.10. The company has a quick ratio of 2.82, a current ratio of 2.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market cap of $4.67 billion, a PE ratio of 11.85, a P/E/G ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 0.90.

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.12. Duolingo had a return on equity of 14.88% and a net margin of 39.91%.The firm had revenue of $282.87 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $275.95 million. The firm’s revenue was up 35.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Duolingo will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Duolingo

In other Duolingo news, insider Natalie Glance sold 3,545 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the insider owned 115,380 shares in the company, valued at $13,096,783.80. The trade was a 2.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Robert Meese sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.06, for a total value of $110,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 122,636 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,497,318.16. This trade represents a 0.81% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 14,939 shares of company stock valued at $1,676,291 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 18.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Duolingo

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in Duolingo in the fourth quarter worth $4,282,000. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC bought a new position in shares of Duolingo in the 4th quarter worth about $333,000. Vident Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Duolingo by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 2,647 shares of the company’s stock worth $465,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Cim LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Duolingo by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Cim LLC now owns 4,390 shares of the company’s stock valued at $770,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in shares of Duolingo during the 4th quarter valued at about $331,000. 91.59% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Duolingo News Roundup

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.