Kura Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ:KURA) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Kura Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ:KURA) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the thirteen analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation and nine have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $28.00.

Several research firms have recently commented on KURA. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $24.00 price target on shares of Kura Oncology in a report on Monday, October 20th. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Kura Oncology in a report on Friday, December 5th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $38.00 target price (up from $36.00) on shares of Kura Oncology in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Kura Oncology in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Leerink Partners set a $20.00 target price on Kura Oncology and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th.

Kura Oncology Stock Performance

KURA stock opened at $8.27 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $10.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.10. Kura Oncology has a 12-month low of $5.41 and a 12-month high of $12.49. The firm has a market cap of $719.66 million, a P/E ratio of -3.33 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a current ratio of 5.12, a quick ratio of 5.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02.

Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported ($0.85) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.57) by ($0.28). The business had revenue of $20.75 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.48 million. Kura Oncology had a negative net margin of 208.48% and a negative return on equity of 65.42%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Kura Oncology will post -2.44 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Kura Oncology

In related news, insider Mollie Leoni sold 8,180 shares of Kura Oncology stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.46, for a total transaction of $69,202.80. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 267,274 shares in the company, valued at $2,261,138.04. The trade was a 2.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Thomas James Doyle sold 7,142 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.46, for a total transaction of $60,421.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 145,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,228,112.82. This represents a 4.69% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 104,411 shares of company stock valued at $1,035,994. Company insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kura Oncology

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Kura Oncology by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,507,627 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,224,000 after buying an additional 39,105 shares in the last quarter. EcoR1 Capital LLC lifted its stake in Kura Oncology by 59.1% during the second quarter. EcoR1 Capital LLC now owns 4,200,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,234,000 after purchasing an additional 1,559,702 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Kura Oncology by 101.6% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 2,224,590 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,688,000 after buying an additional 1,121,228 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Kura Oncology by 11.7% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,014,029 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,623,000 after acquiring an additional 211,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its position in shares of Kura Oncology by 63.0% in the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 1,911,886 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,032,000 after purchasing an additional 738,761 shares during the period.

About Kura Oncology

Kura Oncology, Inc (NASDAQ: KURA) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of targeted oncology therapies. Headquartered in La Jolla, California, the company leverages expertise in molecular biology and precision medicine to identify key drivers of cancer growth and design small-molecule inhibitors that block those pathways. Kura’s research platform integrates genomic insights with medicinal chemistry to advance candidates against well-validated targets in solid tumors and hematologic malignancies.

The company’s lead clinical candidate, tipifarnib, is a farnesyltransferase inhibitor being evaluated for the treatment of HRAS-mutant head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and various non-small cell lung cancers.