Coursera (NYSE:COUR) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Coursera (NYSE:COUR) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on COUR. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Coursera from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $5.50 to $6.50 in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $10.00 target price on shares of Coursera in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Coursera in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Coursera from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Coursera from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $8.55.

Coursera Price Performance

Shares of COUR opened at $6.52 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.24. Coursera has a 1 year low of $5.00 and a 1 year high of $12.32. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $5.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5.80.

Coursera (NYSE:COUR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $298.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $293.61 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.12 earnings per share. Coursera’s revenue for the quarter was up 59.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Coursera will post 0.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Coursera announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Monday, May 18th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 55.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Coursera news, SVP Alan B. Cardenas sold 9,139 shares of Coursera stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.71, for a total transaction of $52,183.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 236,237 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,348,913.27. The trade was a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 16.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Coursera

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Coursera in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Optiver Holding B.V. bought a new position in Coursera during the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings 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. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd raised its position in Coursera by 224.1% in the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 4,939 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 3,415 shares during the period. Finally, Clearstead Trust LLC purchased a new stake in Coursera in the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.55% of the company’s stock.

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.