Wall Street Zen Downgrades Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) to Sell

Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on KURA. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Kura Oncology in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Kura Oncology from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective (up from $11.00) on shares of Kura Oncology in a report on Monday, November 24th. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Kura Oncology in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $24.00 target price on shares of Kura Oncology in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $28.00.

Kura Oncology Trading Up 3.6%

Shares of KURA stock opened at $8.31 on Friday. 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 has a twelve month low of $5.41 and a twelve month high of $12.49. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $9.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.16. The stock has a market cap of $723.14 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.35 and a beta of 0.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Teresa Brophy Bair sold 11,208 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.46, for a total value of $94,819.68. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 226,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,919,836.26. This trade represents a 4.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Brian T. Powl sold 6,414 shares of Kura Oncology stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.46, for a total value of $54,262.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 183,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,550,506.50. This trade represents a 3.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 59,794 shares of company stock valued at $537,176. Insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Kura Oncology

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. IFP Advisors Inc increased its position in shares of Kura Oncology by 115.3% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,398 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,284 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Kura Oncology by 392.8% in the third quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,854 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 3,072 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in Kura Oncology by 59.9% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 4,146 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 1,553 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in Kura Oncology by 127.2% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 6,732 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 3,769 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in shares of Kura Oncology by 471.3% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 12,071 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 9,958 shares during the last quarter.

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.