Franklin Resources Inc. Sells 66,863 Shares of Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DUOL)

Franklin Resources Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DUOL - Free Report) by 24.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 204,340 shares of the company's stock after selling 66,863 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 0.46% of Duolingo worth $58,903,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Mount Lucas Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Duolingo by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Mount Lucas Management LP now owns 1,340 shares of the company's stock worth $378,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Duolingo by 3.1% in the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,061 shares of the company's stock worth $299,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in Duolingo by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 1,962 shares of the company's stock worth $409,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Duolingo by 164.6% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 127 shares of the company's stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the period. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Duolingo by 19.5% during the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 520 shares of the company's stock worth $109,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. 91.59% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on Duolingo from $183.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Bank of America downgraded Duolingo from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $355.00 to $375.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Duolingo from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. JMP Securities cut shares of Duolingo from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Duolingo from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $352.40.

Insider Transactions at Duolingo

In other news, insider Robert Meese sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.00, for a total transaction of $1,350,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 147,053 shares in the company, valued at $39,704,310. This represents a 3.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Natalie Glance sold 1,500 shares of Duolingo stock in a transaction on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.91, for a total transaction of $421,365.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 138,260 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $38,838,616.60. This trade represents a 1.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 245,160 shares of company stock valued at $82,570,216. 18.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Duolingo Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:DUOL traded up $5.32 on Tuesday, hitting $354.04. 649,554 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 688,614. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 193.83 and a beta of 0.85. Duolingo, Inc. has a one year low of $145.05 and a one year high of $378.48. The company's 50 day moving average price is $318.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $247.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 3.09 and a current ratio of 3.09.

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.14. Duolingo had a return on equity of 11.74% and a net margin of 12.59%. The firm had revenue of $192.59 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $189.19 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.06 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 39.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Duolingo, Inc. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current year.

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.