BTIG Research Downgrades Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) to Neutral

Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) was downgraded by stock analysts at BTIG Research from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report released on Thursday, MarketBeat reports.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Scotiabank cut their price target on Kura Oncology from $18.00 to $10.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Kura Oncology from $36.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Kura Oncology in a research note on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Kura Oncology from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on shares of Kura Oncology in a report on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $27.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $27.13.

Kura Oncology Price Performance

NASDAQ KURA opened at $8.65 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 11.47 and a quick ratio of 11.47. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $8.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $15.11. Kura Oncology has a 1 year low of $6.98 and a 1 year high of $24.17. The company has a market cap of $672.62 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.67 and a beta of 0.78.

Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported ($0.63) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.64) by $0.01. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.50) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Kura Oncology will post -2.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Kura Oncology

In other Kura Oncology news, insider Mollie Leoni sold 4,963 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.87, for a total transaction of $39,058.81. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 88,253 shares in the company, valued at approximately $694,551.11. This represents a 5.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Thomas James Doyle sold 4,949 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.87, for a total transaction of $38,948.63. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 88,193 shares in the company, valued at $694,078.91. This trade represents a 5.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,255 shares of company stock valued at $100,739 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 5.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kura Oncology

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wealthfront Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kura Oncology during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,289,000. AlphaQuest LLC acquired a new position in Kura Oncology during the fourth quarter worth approximately $177,000. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Kura Oncology in the fourth quarter worth $90,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Kura Oncology by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 635,494 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,535,000 after acquiring an additional 10,542 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its position in shares of Kura Oncology by 184.5% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 22,104 shares of the company’s stock worth $193,000 after acquiring an additional 14,335 shares in the last quarter.

About Kura Oncology

Kura Oncology, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, develops medicines for the treatment of cancer. The company’s pipeline consists of small molecule product candidates that target cancer. Its lead product candidates are ziftomenib, an orally bioavailable small molecule inhibitor of the menin-KMT2A interaction for the treatment of genetically defined subsets of acute leukemias, including acute myeloid leukemia and acute lymphoblastic leukemia; tipifarnib, an orally bioavailable farnesyl transferase inhibitor combination with alpelisib for patients with PIK3CA-dependent HNSCC; and KO-2806, a farnesyl transferase inhibitor for the treatment of solid tumors.