Brokerages Set Coursera, Inc. (NYSE:COUR) Price Target at $8.50

Coursera, Inc. (NYSE:COUR) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $8.5455.

COUR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Coursera from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $10.00 price objective on shares of Coursera in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Coursera from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Coursera from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $7.50 price target on Coursera in a research note on Friday, April 24th.

Insider Activity at Coursera

In other Coursera news, SVP Alan B. Cardenas sold 9,139 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.52, for a total transaction of $50,447.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 255,934 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,412,755.68. This represents a 3.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Insight Holdings Group, Llc sold 1,466,372 shares of Coursera stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.24, for a total transaction of $7,683,789.28. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 419,784 shares in the company, valued at $2,199,668.16. This trade represents a 77.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 2,009,139 shares of company stock worth $10,643,180 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 16.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Coursera

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Coursera during the 2nd quarter worth about $116,245,000. Pale Fire Capital SE acquired a new stake in shares of Coursera in the first quarter valued at about $61,178,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its position in shares of Coursera by 97.0% in the fourth quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 14,590,942 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,389,000 after acquiring an additional 7,184,167 shares during the last quarter. Mak Capital One LLC bought a new stake in Coursera during the fourth quarter worth about $27,610,000. Finally, Caledonia Private Investments Pty Ltd raised its holdings in Coursera by 29.4% during the fourth quarter. Caledonia Private Investments Pty Ltd now owns 12,052,670 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,708,000 after acquiring an additional 2,739,039 shares in the last quarter. 89.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Coursera Trading Up 4.0%

NYSE:COUR opened at $5.79 on Monday. Coursera has a 1 year low of $5.00 and a 1 year high of $12.35. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $5.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $5.82. The stock has a market cap of $979.57 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.63, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.24.

Coursera (NYSE:COUR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.07. Coursera had a negative return on equity of 1.72% and a negative net margin of 15.39%.The company had revenue of $298.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $293.61 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.12 earnings per share. Coursera’s revenue was up 59.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Coursera will post 0.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Coursera declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Monday, May 18th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 55.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board 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.