Magnetar Financial LLC Makes New $544,000 Investment in Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DUOL)

Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DUOL) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $544,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its stake in shares of Duolingo by 156.5% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 10,471 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,395,000 after acquiring an additional 6,389 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Duolingo by 5,050.0% in the 4th quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 103 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Duolingo by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 7,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,458,000 after acquiring an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in shares of Duolingo by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 8,917 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,891,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kensington Investment Counsel LLC lifted its stake in shares of Duolingo by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Kensington Investment Counsel LLC now owns 5,633 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,826,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. 91.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Duolingo Stock Performance

Shares of Duolingo stock opened at $309.30 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 3.09, a quick ratio of 3.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $347.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $318.89. Duolingo, Inc. has a 1-year low of $145.05 and a 1-year high of $441.77. The company has a market cap of $13.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 169.02 and a beta of 0.92.

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) last issued its quarterly 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). Duolingo had a return on equity of 11.74% and a net margin of 12.59%. The business had revenue of $209.55 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $205.49 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that Duolingo, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on DUOL shares. 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. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Duolingo in a research note on Friday, January 24th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $370.00 price target for the company. DA Davidson raised their target price on Duolingo from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Duolingo in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Duolingo from $295.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Duolingo presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $376.25.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Severin Hacker sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $336.23, for a total value of $3,362,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 72 shares in the company, valued at $24,208.56. This trade represents a 99.29 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Matthew Skaruppa sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.48, for a total value of $1,622,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 67,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,977,030.40. This represents a 6.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 95,499 shares of company stock worth $32,677,268 in the last three months. Company insiders own 18.30% of the company’s stock.

Duolingo Profile

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.