Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) Given “Buy” Rating at HC Wainwright

HC Wainwright restated their buy rating on shares of Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) in a report issued on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $40.00 price objective on the stock.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on KURA. Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Kura Oncology in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Kura Oncology in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $38.00 price objective (up previously from $36.00) on shares of Kura Oncology in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Zacks Research raised shares of Kura Oncology from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $28.00 target price (up from $11.00) on shares of Kura Oncology in a report on Monday, November 24th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $28.00.

Kura Oncology Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of Kura Oncology stock opened at $9.21 on Tuesday. Kura Oncology has a twelve month low of $5.41 and a twelve month high of $12.49. The company has a quick ratio of 5.12, a current ratio of 5.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $10.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $8.86. The firm has a market cap of $801.45 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.71 and a beta of 0.25.

Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported ($0.85) EPS 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 analysts’ expectations of $17.48 million. Kura Oncology had a negative return on equity of 65.42% and a negative net margin of 208.48%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Kura Oncology will post -2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Kura Oncology news, insider Teresa Brophy Bair sold 8,804 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.18, for a total transaction of $98,428.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 188,139 shares in the company, valued at $2,103,394.02. The trade was a 4.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Francis Burrows sold 23,726 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.78, for a total value of $232,040.28. Following the transaction, 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 68,343 shares of company stock worth $730,858 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kura Oncology

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Kura Oncology by 392.8% in the third quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,854 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 3,072 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Kura Oncology by 127.2% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 6,732 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 3,769 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kura Oncology in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $89,000. Jain Global LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kura Oncology in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $91,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kura Oncology by 222.3% during the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 10,423 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,000 after purchasing an additional 7,189 shares in the last quarter.

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.