Coursera, Inc. (NYSE:COUR) Receives Average Rating of "Hold" from Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts are cautious on Coursera: The stock has an average rating of “Hold” from 15 covering analysts, with eight buys, five holds, and two sells. The consensus 12-month price target is about $9.19.
• Insider selling has been notable: Recent filings show SVP Alan B. Cardenas and major shareholder Insight Holdings Group sold shares, and insiders have sold about 2.0 million shares worth $10.6 million over the last three months. Insiders still own 16.3% of the company.
• Coursera is under pressure financially but has support from buybacks: The company recently missed earnings per share estimates by one cent, though revenue came in slightly ahead of expectations and rose 9.1% year over year. Its board also approved a $500 million stock repurchase program, signaling confidence in the shares.

Shares of Coursera, Inc. (NYSE:COUR - Get Free Report) have been given an average recommendation of "Hold" by the fifteen research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $9.1923.

Several research analysts have recently commented on COUR shares. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and set a $10.00 price target on shares of Coursera in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Morgan Stanley set a $7.50 price objective on Coursera in a research note on Friday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Coursera from $10.00 to $8.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 24th. KeyCorp restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Coursera in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Coursera from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, April 25th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Coursera news, SVP Alan B. Cardenas sold 9,139 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.52, for a total transaction of $50,447.28. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 255,934 shares in the company, valued at $1,412,755.68. This represents a 3.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Insight Holdings Group, Llc sold 1,466,372 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.24, for a total value of $7,683,789.28. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 419,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,199,668.16. This represents a 77.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 2,009,139 shares of company stock valued at $10,643,180. Company insiders own 16.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Coursera

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in Coursera by 63.2% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 5,555 shares of the company's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 2,152 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Coursera by 19.6% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 509,956 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,968,000 after acquiring an additional 83,603 shares during the period. Optiver Holding B.V. bought a new position in Coursera during the first quarter valued at about $31,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. raised its holdings in Coursera by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 50,568 shares of the company's stock valued at $294,000 after acquiring an additional 2,435 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Readystate Asset Management LP acquired a new position in Coursera in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $6,525,000. 89.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Coursera Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE COUR opened at $5.76 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $976.02 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.17, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $5.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $6.05. Coursera has a 52 week low of $5.00 and a 52 week high of $13.56.

Coursera (NYSE:COUR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.07 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.08 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $195.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $195.17 million. Coursera had a negative return on equity of 5.41% and a negative net margin of 8.23%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.12 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Coursera will post 0.07 EPS for the current year.

Coursera declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Monday, May 18th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 55.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

About Coursera

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.

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