Coursera, Inc. (NYSE:COUR) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Coursera, Inc. (NYSE:COUR) saw a significant increase in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 9,370,000 shares, an increase of 13.3% from the September 15th total of 8,270,000 shares. Currently, 7.2% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 2,320,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.0 days.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Alan B. Cardenas sold 6,285 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.27, for a total transaction of $51,976.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 207,434 shares in the company, valued at $1,715,479.18. The trade was a 0.00 % 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. In related news, Director Andrew Y. Ng sold 6,221 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.03, for a total transaction of $49,954.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,297,671 shares in the company, valued at $58,600,298.13. The trade was a 0.00 % 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. Also, SVP Alan B. Cardenas sold 6,285 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.27, for a total value of $51,976.95. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 207,434 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,715,479.18. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 39,068 shares of company stock worth $324,787. 16.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Coursera

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Natixis bought a new position in Coursera in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $35,000. CWM LLC lifted its position in Coursera by 7,568.6% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,911 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 3,860 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in Coursera by 72.9% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 4,378 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 1,846 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC lifted its position in Coursera by 26.1% in the 2nd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 8,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 1,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LGT Group Foundation bought a new position in Coursera in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $73,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Coursera from $10.50 to $9.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Coursera in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $11.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $18.00 price target on shares of Coursera in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Coursera to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $15.00 price target on shares of Coursera in a research report on Friday, July 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $14.73.

Coursera Stock Performance

COUR stock opened at $7.44 on Thursday. Coursera has a fifty-two week low of $6.35 and a fifty-two week high of $21.26. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $7.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $8.56. The company has a market capitalization of $1.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.78 and a beta of 1.42.

Coursera (NYSE:COUR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.01 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $170.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $164.67 million. Coursera had a negative return on equity of 13.92% and a negative net margin of 14.35%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.20) EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Coursera will post -0.44 earnings per share for the current year.

About Coursera

Coursera, Inc operates an online educational content platform in the United States, Europe, Africa, the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and internationally. It operates in three segments: Consumer, Enterprise, and Degrees. The company offers guided projects, courses, and specializations, as well as online degrees; and certificates for entry-level professional, non-entry level professional, university, and MasterTrack.