Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold”

StockNews.com cut shares of Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Tuesday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on KURA. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Kura Oncology to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Kura Oncology from $32.00 to $28.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. BTIG Research cut Kura Oncology from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $28.00 price objective on shares of Kura Oncology in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Kura Oncology from $27.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Kura Oncology has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.50.

Kura Oncology Price Performance

Shares of KURA opened at $7.34 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $592.74 million, a P/E ratio of -3.11 and a beta of 0.85. The business’s 50-day moving average is $7.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $12.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 11.47 and a current ratio of 11.47. Kura Oncology has a fifty-two week low of $6.79 and a fifty-two week high of $23.48.

Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported ($0.22) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.65) by $0.43. The business had revenue of $53.88 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $57.96 million. Research analysts predict that Kura Oncology will post -2.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kura Oncology

In other news, SVP Thomas James Doyle sold 4,949 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.87, for a total transaction of $38,948.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 88,193 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $694,078.91. This represents a 5.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Mollie Leoni sold 4,963 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.87, for a total value of $39,058.81. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 88,253 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $694,551.11. The trade was a 5.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,729 shares of company stock valued at $92,307 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 5.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Kura Oncology

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in KURA. RA Capital Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Kura Oncology during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,769,000. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in Kura Oncology by 180.1% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,367,148 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,618,000 after purchasing an additional 1,521,954 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new stake in Kura Oncology during the fourth quarter worth approximately $8,518,000. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in shares of Kura Oncology in the fourth quarter valued at $8,265,000. Finally, D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lifted its position in shares of Kura Oncology by 172.0% during the 4th quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 1,151,195 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,027,000 after acquiring an additional 727,987 shares during the last quarter.

Kura Oncology Company Profile

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.