Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) Upgraded to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Friday morning.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on KURA. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Kura Oncology from $18.00 to $10.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Kura Oncology in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $28.00 target price on shares of Kura Oncology in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased 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. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Kura Oncology to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.50.

Kura Oncology Stock Performance

KURA opened at $7.53 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 11.47, a quick ratio of 11.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The company has a market cap of $585.56 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.19 and a beta of 0.85. The company’s 50 day moving average is $8.02 and its 200 day moving average is $13.47. Kura Oncology has a 12-month low of $6.98 and a 12-month high of $24.17.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Mollie Leoni sold 4,963 shares of Kura Oncology stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.87, for a total transaction of $39,058.81. Following the sale, the insider now owns 88,253 shares in the company, valued at $694,551.11. This trade represents a 5.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Thomas James Doyle sold 4,949 shares of Kura Oncology stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.87, for a total transaction of $38,948.63. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 88,193 shares in the company, valued at approximately $694,078.91. The trade was a 5.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,729 shares of company stock worth $92,307 over the last quarter. Insiders own 5.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of KURA. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Kura Oncology by 35.2% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 29,655 shares of the company’s stock valued at $579,000 after purchasing an additional 7,722 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kura Oncology in the third quarter valued at $298,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Kura Oncology by 2.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 624,952 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,212,000 after purchasing an additional 14,106 shares in the last quarter. Algert Global LLC grew its holdings in shares of Kura Oncology by 4.4% in the third quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 272,276 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,320,000 after purchasing an additional 11,493 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Kura Oncology in the third quarter valued at $596,000.

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.