Kura Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ:KURA) Short Interest Update

Kura Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ:KURA – Get Rating) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 7,090,000 shares, an increase of 5.3% from the February 13th total of 6,730,000 shares. Approximately 11.0% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 821,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 8.6 days.

Kura Oncology Price Performance

KURA stock opened at $11.75 on Friday. Kura Oncology has a 1 year low of $10.30 and a 1 year high of $19.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $804.17 million, a PE ratio of -5.79 and a beta of 0.93. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $12.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $13.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 18.56 and a quick ratio of 18.56.

Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 23rd. The company reported ($0.49) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.58) by $0.09. Equities research analysts anticipate that Kura Oncology will post -2.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on KURA. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Kura Oncology in a research report on Thursday. They set a “sell” rating for the company. Stifel Nicolaus assumed coverage on Kura Oncology in a research report on Monday, January 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $25.00 price target for the company. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $32.00 price target on shares of Kura Oncology in a research report on Friday, February 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Kathleen Ford sold 1,821 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.89, for a total transaction of $25,293.69. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 21,214 shares in the company, valued at $294,662.46. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, COO Kathleen Ford sold 1,821 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.89, for a total transaction of $25,293.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 21,214 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $294,662.46. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Kirsten Flowers sold 1,906 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.89, for a total value of $26,474.34. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 20,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $286,203.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,275 shares of company stock worth $73,270 over the last quarter. 5.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Kura Oncology by 44.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,368,763 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,677,000 after acquiring an additional 1,337,149 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Kura Oncology by 1.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,330,346 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,553,000 after purchasing an additional 56,638 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Kura Oncology by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,668,564 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,117,000 after purchasing an additional 96,395 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Kura Oncology by 31.9% during the third quarter. Balyasny Asset Management LLC now owns 1,891,485 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,837,000 after purchasing an additional 457,471 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commodore Capital LP lifted its stake in Kura Oncology by 135.2% during the second quarter. Commodore Capital LP now owns 1,826,491 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,480,000 after purchasing an additional 1,049,977 shares in the last quarter.

Kura Oncology Company Profile

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Kura Oncology, Inc operates as a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, which engages in the research and development of medicines for the treatment of cancer. Its pipeline includes Tipifarnib, which is a Farnesyl transferase inhibitor for HRAS Mutant Solid Tumors, Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia, KO-947, which is an ERK inhibitor for MAPK Pathway Tumors, and KO-539, which is a Menin MLL inhibitor for acute leukemias.