Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) Cut to “Sell” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report report published on Monday.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on KURA. Zacks Research raised Kura Oncology from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $38.00 price objective (up from $36.00) on shares of Kura Oncology in a report on Friday, November 14th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Kura Oncology from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Kura Oncology in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Leerink Partners set a $20.00 price objective on shares of Kura Oncology and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $28.00.

Kura Oncology Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of KURA stock opened at $8.55 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $8.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.39. The company has a current ratio of 5.12, a quick ratio of 5.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. Kura Oncology has a 1 year low of $5.41 and a 1 year high of $12.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $744.02 million, a P/E ratio of -3.45 and a beta of 0.22.

Insider Activity at Kura Oncology

In other Kura Oncology news, insider Teresa Brophy Bair sold 11,208 shares of the firm’s 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 $94,819.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 226,931 shares in the company, valued at $1,919,836.26. This trade represents a 4.71% 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, SVP Thomas James Doyle sold 7,142 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 value of $60,421.32. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 145,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,228,112.82. This represents a 4.69% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 59,794 shares of company stock worth $537,176 in the last quarter. 6.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in Kura Oncology in the 4th quarter valued at $349,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Kura Oncology by 14.6% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 209,370 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,175,000 after purchasing an additional 26,683 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its position in shares of Kura Oncology by 52.3% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 50,080 shares of the company’s stock worth $520,000 after purchasing an additional 17,197 shares during the period. Voloridge Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Kura Oncology in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,505,000. Finally, Virtus Investment Advisers LLC lifted its position in Kura Oncology by 291.4% during the fourth 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 during the period.

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.