Militia Capital Management LLC Takes Position in Duolingo, Inc. $DUOL

Militia Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DUOL) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 11,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,120,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its position in Duolingo by 71.9% during the 4th quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 4,861,445 shares of the company’s stock valued at $853,184,000 after purchasing an additional 2,033,611 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Duolingo by 511.2% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,332,301 shares of the company’s stock worth $131,325,000 after purchasing an additional 1,114,315 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Duolingo by 112.9% during the 1st quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 1,193,307 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,624,000 after purchasing an additional 632,807 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Duolingo by 1,715,575.9% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 497,546 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,319,000 after purchasing an additional 497,517 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Duolingo during the fourth quarter valued at about $86,159,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.59% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Robert Meese sold 1,420 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.16, for a total transaction of $159,267.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 170,745 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,150,759.20. This trade represents a 0.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, General Counsel Stephen C. Chen sold 1,977 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.61, for a total value of $224,606.97. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 52,807 shares in the company, valued at $5,999,403.27. This trade represents a 3.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold a total of 9,506 shares of company stock worth $1,073,864 over the last 90 days. 16.62% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on DUOL. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $145.00 price objective on shares of Duolingo in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Duolingo from $95.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Zacks Research upgraded Duolingo from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Duolingo from $94.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Wedbush started coverage on Duolingo in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $139.00 price objective for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Duolingo has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $167.17.

Duolingo Trading Up 1.0%

NASDAQ DUOL opened at $120.67 on Friday. Duolingo, Inc. has a 12 month low of $87.89 and a 12 month high of $468.00. The company has a current ratio of 2.62, a quick ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $120.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $117.41. The stock has a market cap of $5.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.89, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.88.

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $291.97 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $288.60 million. Duolingo had a net margin of 38.44% and a return on equity of 14.07%. Duolingo’s revenue was up 26.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.72 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Duolingo, Inc. will post 2.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duolingo Profile

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.