Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) Earns Buy Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by stock analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $145.00 price target on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 10.77% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of Duolingo in a research note on Monday, June 29th. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Duolingo in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Wedbush assumed coverage on shares of Duolingo in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $139.00 price objective for the company. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Duolingo from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Evercore set a $97.00 target price on shares of Duolingo in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $148.12.

Duolingo Trading Up 6.8%

NASDAQ DUOL opened at $130.90 on Thursday. Duolingo has a 12-month low of $87.89 and a 12-month high of $415.76. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $125.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $115.10. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock has a market cap of $6.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.51, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.87.

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $298.45 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $295.58 million. Duolingo had a net margin of 35.88% and a return on equity of 12.10%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.91 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Duolingo will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Duolingo

In other news, General Counsel Stephen C. Chen sold 1,977 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $224,606.97. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 52,807 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,999,403.27. This trade represents a 3.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 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. Also, insider Robert Meese sold 1,420 shares of Duolingo 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 170,745 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,150,759.20. This trade represents a 0.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 9,506 shares of company stock worth $1,073,864. 16.62% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Duolingo

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DUOL. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Duolingo by 3.5% in the second quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 940 shares of the company’s stock valued at $385,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Duolingo by 5.0% during the second quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 818 shares of the company’s stock worth $335,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio boosted its stake in Duolingo by 0.6% during the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 11,740 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,778,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC grew its holdings in Duolingo by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 8,953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,571,000 after buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diversify Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Duolingo by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,139 shares of the company’s stock worth $520,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.59% of the company’s stock.

More Duolingo News

Here are the key news stories impacting Duolingo this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Duolingo exceeded second-quarter expectations, reporting adjusted earnings of $0.66 per share versus consensus of roughly $0.60-$0.61, while revenue rose 18.3% year over year to $298.5 million, above the $295.6 million estimate. DUOL Q2 Earnings Beat Estimates on Strong User Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Daily active users increased 23% year over year, and paid subscribers continued to grow, reinforcing Duolingo’s long-term expansion strategy. Management also cited lower artificial-intelligence costs as a factor supporting profitability. Duolingo stock sinks 15% as Q3 revenue forecast misses expectations
• Positive Sentiment: Needham reaffirmed its Buy rating and set a $145 price target, while Truist raised its target to $120 from $100, indicating some analysts see value after the recent selloff. Analyst ratings and price targets
• Neutral Sentiment: Management is prioritizing engagement and user growth, targeting 100 million daily active users by 2028, but projected 2026 revenue growth of approximately 16% signals a materially slower pace than Duolingo’s historical expansion. Duolingo outlines 2026 revenue growth of approximately 16%
• Negative Sentiment: The main overhang is Duolingo’s third-quarter revenue forecast, which fell below Wall Street expectations. The guidance overshadowed the earnings and user-growth beats, prompting a sharp post-earnings selloff and raising concerns that the company’s growth engine is slowing. Duolingo posts better-than-expected sales but stock drops
• Negative Sentiment: Bank of America downgraded Duolingo to Underperform, and Truist’s Hold rating with a $120 target remains below the recent trading level, reflecting valuation and execution concerns. Bank of America downgrades Duolingo

Duolingo Company 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.