Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) Shares Down 6.8% – Time to Sell?

Kura Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ:KURA)’s stock price fell 6.8% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $11.18 and last traded at $11.26. Approximately 597,312 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 63% from the average daily volume of 1,615,584 shares. The stock had previously closed at $12.08.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KURA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Kura Oncology from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Kura Oncology in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. CLSA set a $24.00 price target on Kura Oncology in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Mizuho dropped their price target on Kura Oncology from $30.00 to $25.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer set a $24.00 price objective on shares of Kura Oncology in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.46.

Kura Oncology Stock Performance

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 6.14 and a current ratio of 6.15. The stock has a market cap of $1.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.42 and a beta of 0.35.

Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 12th. The company reported ($0.83) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.88) by $0.05. The company had revenue of $18.27 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.97 million. Kura Oncology had a negative return on equity of 141.95% and a negative net margin of 411.19%. Analysts expect that Kura Oncology, Inc. will post -3.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Mollie Leoni sold 84,929 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.82, for a total value of $834,002.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 182,345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,790,627.90. This represents a 31.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 7.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kura Oncology

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KURA. Tema ETFs LLC acquired a new stake in Kura Oncology in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,029,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Kura Oncology by 69.7% during the second quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 568,845 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,240,000 after buying an additional 233,633 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of Kura Oncology by 46.1% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,230,131 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,001,000 after buying an additional 388,003 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Kura Oncology by 32.3% in the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 95,317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $775,000 after acquiring an additional 23,266 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Kura Oncology by 130.1% in the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 89,303 shares of the company’s stock valued at $726,000 after acquiring an additional 50,498 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.