Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) Cut to “Strong Sell” at Zacks Research

Zacks Research downgraded shares of Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the company. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 price target on shares of Kura Oncology in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Kura Oncology in a research report on Friday, December 5th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Kura Oncology from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $38.00 target price (up from $36.00) on shares of Kura Oncology in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Finally, Leerink Partners set a $20.00 price target on shares of Kura Oncology and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kura Oncology presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $28.00.

Kura Oncology Stock Up 4.2%

Kura Oncology stock opened at $9.09 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 5.12 and a quick ratio of 5.12. Kura Oncology has a fifty-two week low of $5.41 and a fifty-two week high of $12.49. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $10.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $8.96. The firm has a market cap of $791.01 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.67 and a beta of 0.25.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Kura Oncology

In related news, COO Kathleen Ford sold 6,902 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.18, for a total value of $77,164.36. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 105,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,178,070.14. The trade was a 6.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Thomas James Doyle sold 4,539 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.18, for a total transaction of $50,746.02. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 130,257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,456,273.26. This represents a 3.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 68,343 shares of company stock worth $730,858 in the last 90 days. 6.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kura Oncology

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Kura Oncology by 2.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,468,522 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,396,000 after acquiring an additional 120,197 shares in the last quarter. EcoR1 Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Kura Oncology by 59.1% in the 2nd quarter. EcoR1 Capital LLC now owns 4,200,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,234,000 after purchasing an additional 1,559,702 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Kura Oncology by 101.6% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 2,224,590 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,688,000 after purchasing an additional 1,121,228 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Kura Oncology by 11.7% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,014,029 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,623,000 after purchasing an additional 211,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its holdings in Kura Oncology by 63.0% during the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 1,911,886 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,032,000 after purchasing an additional 738,761 shares during the last quarter.

Kura Oncology Company Profile

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.