Insider Selling: Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) Insider Sells $232,040.28 in Stock

Kura Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ:KURA) insider Francis Burrows sold 23,726 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.78, for a total transaction of $232,040.28. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 33,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $329,928.30. This represents a 41.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Kura Oncology Price Performance

KURA stock opened at $9.84 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $10.63 and a 200-day moving average of $8.39. The company has a market cap of $856.28 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.97 and a beta of 0.21. The company has a current ratio of 5.12, a quick ratio of 5.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. Kura Oncology, Inc. has a 12-month low of $5.41 and a 12-month high of $12.49.

Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported ($0.85) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.57) by ($0.28). The firm had revenue of $20.75 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.48 million. Kura Oncology had a negative return on equity of 65.42% and a negative net margin of 208.48%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Kura Oncology, Inc. will post -2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kura Oncology

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of KURA. Rhumbline Advisers grew its position in Kura Oncology by 0.9% in the third quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 119,935 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,061,000 after acquiring an additional 1,039 shares in the last quarter. Profund Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kura Oncology by 11.1% in the third quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 24,835 shares of the company’s stock valued at $220,000 after purchasing an additional 2,478 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Kura Oncology by 15.8% in the third quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 20,481 shares of the company’s stock valued at $181,000 after purchasing an additional 2,802 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in Kura Oncology by 10.9% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 30,273 shares of the company’s stock valued at $175,000 after purchasing an additional 2,976 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in Kura Oncology by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 50,008 shares of the company’s stock worth $333,000 after buying an additional 2,977 shares during the period.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on KURA shares. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective (up from $11.00) on shares of Kura Oncology in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Kura Oncology in a report on Friday, December 5th. Guggenheim started coverage on shares of Kura Oncology in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $24.00 price objective on shares of Kura Oncology in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $38.00 target price (up previously from $36.00) on shares of Kura Oncology in a report on Friday, November 14th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has 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 $26.57.

About Kura Oncology

Kura Oncology, Inc (NASDAQ: KURA) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of targeted oncology therapies. Headquartered in La Jolla, California, the company leverages expertise in molecular biology and precision medicine to identify key drivers of cancer growth and design small-molecule inhibitors that block those pathways. Kura’s research platform integrates genomic insights with medicinal chemistry to advance candidates against well-validated targets in solid tumors and hematologic malignancies.

The company’s lead clinical candidate, tipifarnib, is a farnesyltransferase inhibitor being evaluated for the treatment of HRAS-mutant head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and various non-small cell lung cancers.