Mizuho Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) Stock Price

Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) had its price objective lowered by stock analysts at Mizuho from $30.00 to $25.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. Mizuho’s target price suggests a potential upside of 192.40% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on KURA. Leerink Partners set a $20.00 price target on Kura Oncology and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Kura Oncology in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Kura Oncology in a research report on Friday, December 5th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Kura Oncology in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Wedbush dropped their price target on shares of Kura Oncology from $38.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.86.

Kura Oncology Stock Performance

Shares of KURA opened at $8.55 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $755.22 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.69 and a beta of 0.22. The company’s fifty day moving average is $8.46 and its 200-day moving average is $9.49. The company has a quick ratio of 6.05, a current ratio of 6.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Kura Oncology has a 12 month low of $5.41 and a 12 month high of $12.49.

Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 5th. The company reported ($0.92) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.72) by ($0.20). The business had revenue of $17.34 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.71 million. Kura Oncology had a negative return on equity of 102.59% and a negative net margin of 412.95%. Equities analysts expect that Kura Oncology will post -2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Kura Oncology

In other Kura Oncology news, insider Teresa Brophy Bair sold 11,208 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 transaction of $94,819.68. Following the sale, the insider owned 226,931 shares in the company, valued at $1,919,836.26. The trade was a 4.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Thomas James Doyle sold 7,142 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 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 position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 36,068 shares of company stock valued at $305,135 in the last ninety days. 6.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kura Oncology

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Kura Oncology by 47.5% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,931,090 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,234,000 after purchasing an additional 1,587,959 shares during the period. EcoR1 Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Kura Oncology by 59.1% in the 2nd 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 period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Kura Oncology by 101.6% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 2,224,590 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,688,000 after buying an additional 1,121,228 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kura Oncology by 111.6% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,830,566 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,020,000 after buying an additional 965,256 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Kura Oncology by 36.6% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,062,212 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,816,000 after buying an additional 820,020 shares during the period.

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.