Coursera (NYSE:COUR) Downgraded by JPMorgan Chase & Co. to Neutral

JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Coursera (NYSE:COUR) from an overweight rating to a neutral rating in a research note published on Friday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $5.00 price objective on the stock, down from their previous price objective of $8.00.

Several other research firms have also commented on COUR. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Coursera from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 14th. Zacks Research cut shares of Coursera from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Coursera from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $5.50 to $6.50 in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Coursera from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 19th. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded shares of Coursera from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Friday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Coursera presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $6.36.

Coursera Price Performance

Shares of COUR opened at $3.49 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $922.76 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.24. Coursera has a 1 year low of $3.45 and a 1 year high of $8.89. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $5.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5.69.

Coursera (NYSE:COUR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.03. Coursera had a negative net margin of 14.35% and a positive return on equity of 3.47%. The firm had revenue of $376.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $368.52 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.10 earnings per share. Coursera’s revenue for the quarter was up 94.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Coursera will post 0.20 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Gregory Hart sold 10,308 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.11, for a total value of $52,673.88. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,539,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,864,305.33. This represents a 0.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Pale Fire Capital Se bought 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 29th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $4.61 per share, with a total value of $4,610,000.00. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 28,806,415 shares in the company, valued at approximately $132,797,573.15. The trade was a 3.60% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 16.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Coursera

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Coursera in the second quarter worth $116,245,000. Pale Fire Capital SE boosted its stake in shares of Coursera by 94.4% during the second quarter. Pale Fire Capital SE now owns 20,432,950 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,242,000 after purchasing an additional 9,921,347 shares during the period. Caledonia Private Investments Pty Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Coursera during the second quarter valued at $114,918,000. Readystate Asset Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Coursera by 259.2% during the second quarter. Readystate Asset Management LP now owns 4,027,181 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,713,000 after purchasing an additional 2,906,101 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG bought a new position in shares of Coursera in the second quarter worth about $9,848,000. Institutional investors own 89.55% of the company’s stock.

More Coursera News

Here are the key news stories impacting Coursera this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Coursera reported third-quarter revenue of approximately $377 million and adjusted earnings of $0.21 per share, exceeding consensus estimates. Revenue increased 94% year over year, while earnings more than doubled from $0.10 per share in the prior-year quarter. Coursera Q3 Earnings and Revenues Beat Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Management expects more than $150 million in gross cost savings by year-end as integration efforts progress, supporting the potential for margin expansion and operating efficiencies. Coursera Q4 Revenue and Cost Savings Outlook
• Positive Sentiment: Unusual options activity saw traders purchase 5,405 call options, roughly 247% above average call volume, indicating heightened speculative interest and potential bullish positioning.

About Coursera

Coursera, Inc is an online learning platform that provides access to courses, professional certificates, guided projects, and degree programs. The company works with universities, colleges, and industry partners to offer content in areas such as business, technology, data science, computer science, and personal development.

Coursera serves individual learners, businesses, governments, and academic institutions in countries around the world. Its enterprise and government offerings support employee training, workforce development, and large-scale education initiatives, while its consumer platform allows learners to enroll in individual courses or broader credential and degree programs.

Coursera was founded in 2012 by computer-science professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller.