Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) Given “Market Outperform” Rating at JMP Securities

JMP Securities restated their market outperform rating on shares of Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) in a research report sent to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $24.00 price target on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on KURA. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Kura Oncology from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, August 17th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Kura Oncology in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Kura Oncology in a report on Monday. Zacks Research lowered shares of Kura Oncology from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of Kura Oncology in a report on Thursday, September 4th. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Kura Oncology presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $24.67.

Kura Oncology Trading Up 1.5%

Kura Oncology stock opened at $9.99 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $8.46 and a 200 day moving average of $6.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $867.13 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.42 and a beta of 0.32. Kura Oncology has a 12-month low of $5.41 and a 12-month high of $19.73. The company has a current ratio of 6.16, a quick ratio of 6.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02.

Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.75) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.90). The company had revenue of $15.29 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.95 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Kura Oncology will post -2.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Mollie Leoni sold 12,314 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.94, for a total transaction of $110,087.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 158,439 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,416,444.66. This represents a 7.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Kathleen Ford sold 6,892 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.94, for a total value of $61,614.48. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 63,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $566,572.50. This represents a 9.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 78,058 shares of company stock worth $697,839. 6.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kura Oncology

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BVF Inc. IL lifted its position in Kura Oncology by 202.0% in the first quarter. BVF Inc. IL now owns 7,754,129 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,177,000 after buying an additional 5,186,660 shares during the last quarter. Armistice Capital LLC lifted its position in Kura Oncology by 13.3% in the first quarter. Armistice Capital LLC now owns 6,572,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,375,000 after buying an additional 772,000 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Kura Oncology by 2.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,948,235 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,658,000 after buying an additional 129,337 shares during the last quarter. EcoR1 Capital LLC lifted its position in Kura Oncology by 59.1% in the second quarter. EcoR1 Capital LLC now owns 4,200,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,234,000 after buying an additional 1,559,702 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Kura Oncology by 11.7% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,014,029 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,623,000 after buying an additional 211,470 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.