Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Coursera (NYSE:COUR)

Coursera (NYSE:COUR)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by stock analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $10.00 price target on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 68.35% from the company’s previous close.

COUR has been the subject of several other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Coursera from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $12.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Coursera from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Coursera from $13.00 to $11.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 5th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $7.00 target price on shares of Coursera in a research note on Friday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Coursera in a research report on Wednesday, November 26th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Coursera presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $10.62.

Coursera Stock Performance

NYSE:COUR opened at $5.94 on Friday. Coursera has a 52-week low of $5.72 and a 52-week high of $13.56. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $7.17 and a 200 day moving average of $9.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $988.42 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -19.16 and a beta of 1.37.

Coursera (NYSE:COUR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06. The business had revenue of $196.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $191.83 million. Coursera had a negative return on equity of 5.19% and a negative net margin of 6.73%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.08 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Coursera will post -0.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Coursera news, SVP Alan B. Cardenas sold 8,078 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.17, for a total transaction of $65,997.26. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 237,828 shares in the company, valued at $1,943,054.76. This represents a 3.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 16.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Coursera by 15.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,116,748 shares of the company’s stock valued at $118,619,000 after acquiring an additional 2,195,148 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 7,184,167 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Coursera by 2.6% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,057,118 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,784,000 after purchasing an additional 77,044 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Coursera by 341.6% during the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,955,723 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,612,000 after purchasing an additional 2,286,395 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Coursera by 5.9% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,704,855 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,679,000 after purchasing an additional 151,000 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.55% of the company’s stock.

Key Coursera News

Here are the key news stories impacting Coursera this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts reaffirmed bullish ratings with sizable price targets — Needham keeps a Buy with a $10 PT and Telsey keeps an Outperform with a $14 PT, signaling institutional confidence in upside from current levels. Needham Buy $10 Telsey Outperform $14
• Positive Sentiment: Management raised FY‑2026 revenue guidance to $805M–$815M (above consensus ~$798M) and issued Q1 revenue guidance above estimates — this shows top‑line acceleration assumptions tied to the Udemy deal and AI product initiatives. Press Release
• Positive Sentiment: Company outlined a $805M–$815M 2026 revenue target and said the Udemy merger plus AI work will accelerate platform evolution — strategic M&A and AI adoption are being presented as drivers of future growth. Coursera outlines $805M-$815M target
• Neutral Sentiment: Q4 revenue of $196.9M topped estimates (~$191.8M) and revenue grew ~9.9% YoY, but EPS of $0.06 simply met expectations — decent top‑line strength, mixed bottom‑line. Q4 Results
• Neutral Sentiment: Full Q4 earnings call transcript and analyst write‑ups are available for details on product cadence, Udemy integration timeline and margin assumptions — useful if you want to hear management tone and modeling details. Earnings Call Transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Profitability metrics remain pressured: net margin stayed negative and EPS declined year‑over‑year (from $0.08 to $0.06). Analysts still model negative full‑year EPS, highlighting margin risk as Coursera invests for growth and integrates Udemy. Key Metrics vs Estimates
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts and market pieces flag margin pressure from the Udemy deal and potential dilution/costs — the market appears to be weighing growth prospects against near‑term profitability headwinds. Margin Pressure Discussion

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.