Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) Hits New 1-Year High on Insider Buying Activity

Kura Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ:KURA) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday following insider buying activity. The stock traded as high as $13.50 and last traded at $13.3770, with a volume of 144530 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $12.40.

Specifically, CEO Troy Edward Wilson bought 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 24th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $12.39 per share, with a total value of $1,239,000.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 479,194 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,937,213.66. The trade was a 26.37% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KURA has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wedbush increased their price target on Kura Oncology from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Raymond James Financial set a $24.00 price objective on Kura Oncology in a research note on Monday. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $24.00 price objective on Kura Oncology in a report on Monday, June 15th. Wall Street Zen raised Kura Oncology from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, CLSA set a $24.00 target price on Kura Oncology in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kura Oncology currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.40.

Kura Oncology Price Performance

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $10.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 4.73 and a quick ratio of 4.71. The stock has a market cap of $1.20 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.95 and a beta of 0.38.

Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 12th. The company reported ($0.77) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.88) by $0.11. Kura Oncology had a negative net margin of 384.30% and a negative return on equity of 207.18%. The company had revenue of $20.87 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.16 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Kura Oncology, Inc. will post -3.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kura Oncology

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of KURA. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Kura Oncology during the second quarter worth about $115,286,000. Suvretta Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Kura Oncology by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC now owns 8,575,422 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,099,000 after purchasing an additional 459,422 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Kura Oncology by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,507,627 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,224,000 after purchasing an additional 39,105 shares during the period. Armistice Capital LLC increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 264,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 1,587,959 shares in the last quarter.

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.