Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) Coverage Initiated at Lake Street Capital

Equities research analysts at Lake Street Capital started coverage on shares of Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) in a research note issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $23.00 price target on the stock. Lake Street Capital’s target price indicates a potential upside of 154.14% from the company’s current price.

KURA has been the topic of several other research reports. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Kura Oncology from $30.00 to $25.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Kura Oncology from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Leerink Partners set a $20.00 target price on shares of Kura Oncology and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Wedbush lowered their target price on shares of Kura Oncology from $38.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Kura Oncology in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Kura Oncology has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.38.

Kura Oncology Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ KURA opened at $9.05 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $803.28 million, a PE ratio of -2.85 and a beta of 0.25. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $8.48 and a 200 day moving average of $9.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 6.05 and a current ratio of 6.06. Kura Oncology has a one year low of $5.45 and a one year high of $12.49.

Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The company reported ($0.92) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.72) by ($0.20). Kura Oncology had a negative return on equity of 102.59% and a negative net margin of 412.95%.The business had revenue of $17.34 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.71 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Kura Oncology will post -2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Thomas James Doyle sold 7,142 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.46, for a total transaction of $60,421.32. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 145,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,228,112.82. The trade was a 4.69% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Mollie Leoni sold 8,180 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.46, for a total transaction of $69,202.80. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 267,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,261,138.04. The trade was a 2.97% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 36,068 shares of company stock worth $305,135. 6.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its position in shares of Kura Oncology by 115.3% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,398 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 1,284 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Kura Oncology by 392.8% in the third quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,854 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 3,072 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in Kura Oncology by 59.9% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 4,146 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 1,553 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in Kura Oncology by 127.2% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 6,732 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 3,769 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Kura Oncology in the third quarter valued at about $89,000.

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.