Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) Rating Increased to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Sunday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on KURA. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $38.00 target price (up previously from $36.00) on shares of Kura Oncology in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective (up from $11.00) on shares of Kura Oncology in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Kura Oncology in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Kura Oncology in a report on Friday, December 5th. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Kura Oncology in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $28.00.

Kura Oncology Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:KURA opened at $8.46 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 5.12, a quick ratio of 5.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $736.19 million, a PE ratio of -3.41 and a beta of 0.23. Kura Oncology has a 1 year low of $5.41 and a 1 year high of $12.49. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $9.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.26.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Brian T. Powl sold 6,414 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.46, for a total transaction of $54,262.44. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 183,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,550,506.50. This represents a 3.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Mollie Leoni sold 8,180 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.46, for a total transaction of $69,202.80. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 267,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,261,138.04. This trade represents a 2.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 59,794 shares of company stock valued at $537,176 over the last three months. Company insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kura Oncology

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Kura Oncology by 14.6% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 209,370 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,175,000 after purchasing an additional 26,683 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its position in Kura Oncology by 52.3% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 50,080 shares of the company’s stock valued at $520,000 after purchasing an additional 17,197 shares in the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Kura Oncology in the fourth quarter valued at $2,505,000. Virtus Investment Advisers LLC increased its stake in Kura Oncology by 291.4% in the 4th quarter. Virtus Investment Advisers LLC now owns 66,870 shares of the company’s stock valued at $695,000 after buying an additional 49,785 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Susquehanna Portfolio Strategies LLC lifted its position in Kura Oncology by 14.2% during the 4th quarter. Susquehanna Portfolio Strategies LLC now owns 392,817 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,081,000 after buying an additional 48,926 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.