Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) Rating Lowered to “Sell” at Wall Street Zen

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

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Kura Oncology in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Kura Oncology in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Kura Oncology from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 14th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $38.00 target price (up from $36.00) on shares of Kura Oncology in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Kura Oncology from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $28.00.

Kura Oncology Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of KURA stock opened at $8.73 on Monday. Kura Oncology has a 12-month low of $5.41 and a 12-month high of $12.49. The company has a market capitalization of $759.68 million, a PE ratio of -3.52 and a beta of 0.22. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $8.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.37. The company has a quick ratio of 5.12, a current ratio of 5.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02.

Insider Transactions at Kura Oncology

In related news, insider Brian T. Powl sold 6,414 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.46, for a total transaction of $54,262.44. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 183,275 shares in the company, valued at $1,550,506.50. This represents a 3.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Thomas James Doyle sold 7,142 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.46, for a total value of $60,421.32. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 145,167 shares in the company, valued at $1,228,112.82. This trade represents a 4.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 59,794 shares of company stock worth $537,176. 6.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kura Oncology in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $349,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Kura Oncology by 14.6% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 209,370 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,175,000 after purchasing an additional 26,683 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its position in Kura Oncology by 52.3% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 50,080 shares of the company’s stock valued at $520,000 after buying an additional 17,197 shares in the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Kura Oncology in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,505,000. Finally, Virtus Investment Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of Kura Oncology by 291.4% during the fourth quarter. Virtus Investment Advisers LLC now owns 66,870 shares of the company’s stock worth $695,000 after buying an additional 49,785 shares during the last quarter.

Kura Oncology Company Profile

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.