Gilder Gagnon Howe Dumps 66,000 Duolingo Shares Worth $15.7 Million
Key Points
Reduced position by 66,397 shares, with estimated transaction value of $15.65 million based on quarterly average pricing.
Quarter-end position value decreased by $95.44 million, reflecting both trading and stock price movement.
Transaction represented 0.17% of fund’s 13F assets under management.
Ended the quarter with 506,131 shares valued at $88.83 million.
The post-trade stake is 0.94% of AUM, which places it outside the fund's top five holdings.
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On February 17, 2026, Gilder Gagnon Howe & Co LLC disclosed a sale of a portion of its Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) shares.
What happened
According to a recent SEC filing dated February 17, 2026, Gilder Gagnon Howe & Co LLC sold 66,397 shares of Duolingo during the fourth quarter of 2025. The estimated transaction value was $15.65 million based on the average closing price for the period. The value of the fund’s Duolingo holding declined by $95.44 million over the quarter, a figure that includes both the share sale and stock price changes.
What else to know
- This was a reduction in the Duolingo position, which now represents 0.9375% of the fund's 13F reportable assets under management.
- Top holdings after the filing:
- NASDAQ:NVDA: $481.12 million (5.08% of AUM)
- NASDAQ:AMZN: $415.39 million (4.38% of AUM)
- NASDAQ:NFLX: $409.30 million (4.32% of AUM)
- NASDAQ:SHOP: $350.66 million (3.70% of AUM)
- NYSE:NET: $345.89 million (3.65% of AUM)
- As of February 13, 2026, shares were priced at $112.57, down 73.84% over the past year, underperforming the S&P 500 by 85.63 percentage points.
Company Overview
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Price (as of market close 2026-02-13) | $112.57 |
| Market capitalization | $5.21 billion |
| Revenue (TTM) | $1.04 billion |
| Net income (TTM) | $414.07 million |
Company Snapshot
- Offers a digital language-learning platform and assessment tools, with courses in over 40 languages and a proprietary proficiency exam.
- Offers a website, a mobile app, and a language proficiency assessment exam for digital language education.
- Serves a global user base seeking digital language education and assessment.
Duolingo, Inc. offers a broad language selection and provides its services primarily through a website and mobile app.
What this transaction means for investors
Gilder Gagnon has held shares of Duolingo since around the time it launched its IPO in mid-2021. The consumer discretionary stock has experienced significant volatility since that time. After reaching a low in 2022, it shot higher until mid-2025, peaking at just under $545 per share.
However, since that time, it has lost more than 80% of its value as the power of AI has brought uncertainty to software stocks. It also shifted its focus to its longer-term users rather than prioritizing monetization.
Fortunately, Gilder Gagnon has steadily sold off shares. The report did not include information on the timing of the sale, meaning the shares could have sold anywhere in the $175 per share to $353 per share range during Q4.
Investors should also note that the sale only reduced its holdings by 15%. Still, since its approximate 506,000 shares are well below the 1,014,000 shares it purchased around the time of the IPO, the fund appears to have been steadily taking profits in Duolingo for most of the stock’s history.
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Will Healy has positions in Shopify. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon, Cloudflare, Duolingo, Netflix, Nvidia, and Shopify. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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