Coursera, Inc. (NYSE:COUR) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Coursera, Inc. (NYSE:COUR) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have issued a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $8.5455.

COUR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Coursera in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $10.00 target price on shares of Coursera in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Wall Street Zen cut Coursera from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Coursera from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $5.50 to $6.50 in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on Coursera from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th.

Insider Transactions at Coursera

In other Coursera news, SVP Alan Cardenas sold 9,139 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.71, for a total value of $52,183.69. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 236,237 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,348,913.27. This trade represents a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 16.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Coursera

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of COUR. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Coursera in the second quarter valued at approximately $116,245,000. Pale Fire Capital SE grew its holdings in Coursera by 94.4% in the 2nd quarter. Pale Fire Capital SE now owns 20,432,950 shares of the company’s stock worth $115,242,000 after buying an additional 9,921,347 shares in the last quarter. Caledonia Private Investments Pty Ltd bought a new position in Coursera in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $114,918,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Coursera by 15.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,116,748 shares of the company’s stock valued at $118,619,000 after acquiring an additional 2,195,148 shares during the period. Finally, Readystate Asset Management LP increased its position in Coursera by 259.2% in the 2nd quarter. Readystate Asset Management LP now owns 4,027,181 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,713,000 after acquiring an additional 2,906,101 shares during the period. 89.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Coursera Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:COUR opened at $6.01 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $5.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $5.80. Coursera has a 1-year low of $5.00 and a 1-year high of $12.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.26.

Coursera (NYSE:COUR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.07. Coursera had a negative net margin of 15.39% and a negative return on equity of 1.72%. The business had revenue of $298.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $293.61 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.12 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 59.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Coursera will post 0.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Coursera announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Monday, May 18th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 55.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Coursera Company Profile

Coursera, Inc (NYSE:COUR) operates a leading online learning platform that delivers courses, specializations, professional certificates and fully accredited degree programs in collaboration with top universities and industry partners. Founded in 2012 by Stanford University professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller, Coursera’s mission is to provide universal access to world-class education and bridge skill gaps in a rapidly evolving job market.

The platform features more than 6,000 offerings created by over 275 academic institutions and corporate entities, spanning fields such as data science, business, technology, health care and the arts.