Coursera Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:COUR)

Posted by George Bondi on Sep 30th, 2026

Coursera, Inc. (NYSE:COUR – Get Free Report) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders purchased 5,610 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 137% compared to the typical daily volume of 2,371 call options.

Coursera Stock Up 8.7%

Shares of Coursera stock traded up $0.41 on Wednesday, hitting $5.08. 4,086,646 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,939,408. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $5.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $5.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 1.26. Coursera has a 1-year low of $4.53 and a 1-year high of $11.64.

Coursera (NYSE:COUR – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.07. Coursera had a negative return on equity of 1.72% and a negative net margin of 15.39%.The firm had revenue of $298.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $293.61 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.12 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 59.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Coursera will post 0.16 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Pale Fire Capital Se purchased 1,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 29th. The stock was bought at an average price of $4.61 per share, with a total value of $4,610,000.00. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 28,806,415 shares in the company, valued at $132,797,573.15. The trade was a 3.60% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Alan Cardenas sold 9,139 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.71, for a total transaction of $52,183.69. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 236,237 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,348,913.27. The trade was a 3.72% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 16.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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

Key Stories Impacting Coursera

Here are the key news stories impacting Coursera this week:

Positive Sentiment: Pale Fire Capital expanded its Coursera position. The investment firm bought 1 million shares at an average price of $4.61, spending approximately $4.61 million and increasing its ownership by 3.6% to 28.8 million shares. The purchase followed its acquisition of 1.33 million shares for approximately $6.74 million on September 25. Repeated buying by a major shareholder can support investor confidence in COUR. Insider Buying: Coursera Major Shareholder Acquires Stock
Positive Sentiment: Institutional ownership and analyst sentiment remain supportive. Pale Fire Capital nearly doubled its Coursera holdings during the second quarter, while several institutional investors initiated positions. Analysts tracked in the report maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average target price of $8.55, well above recent trading levels. Coursera analyst ratings and institutional ownership
Neutral Sentiment: Coursera appointed Tom Savage as chief legal officer and secretary. The leadership addition may strengthen the company’s legal and governance functions, but no immediate financial impact was disclosed. Tom Savage joins Coursera
Neutral Sentiment: Coursera’s Global Skills Report highlighted U.S. AI-readiness gaps. The United States ranked eighth globally in Coursera’s AI-Human Skills Synergy Index, leading in infrastructure and policy but ranking 27th in learner proficiency and behavior. The findings reinforce potential demand for AI education, though they do not represent a direct change to financial guidance. Coursera Global Skills Report

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

COUR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Zacks Research cut Coursera from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 24th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Coursera in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $10.00 price objective on shares of Coursera in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Coursera from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $5.50 to $6.50 in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Coursera from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research note on Monday, September 14th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $8.55.

Get Our Latest Report on COUR

About Coursera

(Get Free Report)

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 organizations to offer learning content in areas such as business, technology, data science, health, and the humanities.

Coursera serves individual learners as well as businesses, academic institutions, and government organizations. Its offerings include subscription-based course access, career-oriented professional credentials, online bachelor’s and master’s degree programs, and workforce development solutions designed to help organizations train employees and other learners.

Coursera was founded in 2012 by Stanford University professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller and is headquartered in Mountain View, California.