Coursera (NYSE:COUR) Announces Share Repurchase Program

Coursera (NYSE:COUR) announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Monday, May 18th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 55.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley set a $7.50 price target on shares of Coursera in a report on Friday, April 24th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Coursera from $8.00 to $7.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 27th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $10.00 price objective on shares of Coursera in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Coursera from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 25th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Coursera from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $9.50.

Coursera Trading Up 8.6%

Shares of NYSE:COUR traded up $0.45 on Monday, hitting $5.73. 7,482,583 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,925,275. The firm has a market capitalization of $970.77 million, a P/E ratio of -15.09 and a beta of 1.30. Coursera has a 1-year low of $5.00 and a 1-year high of $13.56. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $5.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $6.75.

Coursera (NYSE:COUR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 8.23% and a negative return on equity of 5.41%. Coursera’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.12 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Coursera will post -0.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Alan B. Cardenas sold 9,710 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.92, for a total value of $57,483.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 217,876 shares in the company, valued at $1,289,825.92. This represents a 4.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 16.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.