Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) Sees Strong Trading Volume – What’s Next?

by · The Markets Daily

Kura Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ:KURAGet Free Report) saw unusually-high trading volume on Thursday . Approximately 2,227,994 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 53% from the previous session’s volume of 1,459,269 shares.The stock last traded at $8.70 and had previously closed at $8.34.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on KURA. Zacks Research raised shares of Kura Oncology from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Kura Oncology in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Kura Oncology in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Mizuho dropped their target price on Kura Oncology from $30.00 to $25.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. Finally, Wedbush cut their price target on shares of Kura Oncology from $38.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 6th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.86.

Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on KURA

Kura Oncology Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $756.99 million, a PE ratio of -2.69 and a beta of 0.22. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $8.40 and its 200 day moving average is $9.48. 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 (NASDAQ:KURAGet Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The company reported ($0.92) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.72) by ($0.20). The firm had revenue of $17.34 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.71 million. Kura Oncology had a negative net margin of 412.95% and a negative return on equity of 102.59%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Kura Oncology, Inc. will post -2.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 owned 267,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,261,138.04. The trade was a 2.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Teresa Brophy Bair sold 11,208 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.46, for a total value of $94,819.68. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 226,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,919,836.26. The trade was a 4.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 36,068 shares of company stock valued at $305,135 in the last three months. 6.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kura Oncology

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Suvretta Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Kura Oncology by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC now owns 8,575,422 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,099,000 after purchasing an additional 459,422 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Kura Oncology by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,507,627 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,224,000 after buying an additional 39,105 shares in the last quarter. Armistice Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Kura Oncology by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Armistice Capital LLC now owns 4,936,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,285,000 after buying an additional 264,000 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Kura Oncology by 47.5% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,931,090 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,234,000 after buying an additional 1,587,959 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EcoR1 Capital LLC grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 1,559,702 shares in the last quarter.

Kura Oncology Company Profile

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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.

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