Kura Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ:KURA) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Kura Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ:KURA) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has issued a hold recommendation and nine have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $28.00.

KURA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price target on Kura Oncology from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 14th. Zacks Research downgraded Kura Oncology from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Kura Oncology from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, February 22nd. Leerink Partners set a $20.00 price target on Kura Oncology and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Kura Oncology in a report on Friday, December 5th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Brian T. Powl sold 6,414 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 $54,262.44. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 183,275 shares in the company, valued at $1,550,506.50. The trade was a 3.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 33,735 shares in the company, valued at $329,928.30. The trade was a 41.29% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 59,794 shares of company stock worth $537,176 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Kura Oncology

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in Kura Oncology during the 4th quarter worth $349,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 26,683 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its position in Kura Oncology by 52.3% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 50,080 shares of the company’s stock worth $520,000 after acquiring an additional 17,197 shares during the period. Voloridge Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Kura Oncology in the 4th quarter worth about $2,505,000. Finally, Virtus Investment Advisers LLC raised 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 worth $695,000 after purchasing an additional 49,785 shares in the last quarter.

Kura Oncology Price Performance

Shares of KURA opened at $8.73 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $8.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.33. Kura Oncology has a 1-year low of $5.41 and a 1-year high of $12.49. The company has a market cap of $759.68 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.52 and a beta of 0.23.

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.