StockNews.com Upgrades Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) to Buy

Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) was upgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday.

Several other brokerages have also commented on KURA. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Kura Oncology to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Kura Oncology in a report on Thursday, February 27th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Kura Oncology from $27.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $28.00 price objective on shares of Kura Oncology in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $36.00 target price on shares of Kura Oncology in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.50.

Kura Oncology Stock Performance

Shares of KURA stock opened at $7.14 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $7.83 and a 200-day moving average of $12.14. The stock has a market cap of $576.59 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.03 and a beta of 0.85. Kura Oncology has a 52-week low of $6.79 and a 52-week high of $23.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 11.47 and a current ratio of 11.47.

Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported ($0.22) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.65) by $0.43. The business had revenue of $53.88 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $57.96 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Kura Oncology will post -2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Mollie Leoni sold 4,963 shares of Kura Oncology stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.87, for a total transaction of $39,058.81. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 88,253 shares in the company, valued at $694,551.11. The trade was a 5.32 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Thomas James Doyle sold 4,949 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.87, for a total transaction of $38,948.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 88,193 shares in the company, valued at $694,078.91. This represents a 5.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 11,729 shares of company stock valued at $92,307. 5.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kura Oncology

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Kura Oncology by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 16,489 shares of the company’s stock worth $144,000 after purchasing an additional 1,750 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in Kura Oncology by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 99,991 shares of the company’s stock worth $871,000 after buying an additional 1,923 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Kura Oncology by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 49,371 shares of the company’s stock worth $430,000 after buying an additional 2,076 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its position in shares of Kura Oncology by 19.9% during the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 13,749 shares of the company’s stock worth $120,000 after buying an additional 2,285 shares during the period. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Kura Oncology by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 44,828 shares of the company’s stock valued at $390,000 after acquiring an additional 2,776 shares during the last quarter.

Kura Oncology Company Profile

Kura Oncology, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, develops medicines for the treatment of cancer. The company’s pipeline consists of small molecule product candidates that target cancer. Its lead product candidates are ziftomenib, an orally bioavailable small molecule inhibitor of the menin-KMT2A interaction for the treatment of genetically defined subsets of acute leukemias, including acute myeloid leukemia and acute lymphoblastic leukemia; tipifarnib, an orally bioavailable farnesyl transferase inhibitor combination with alpelisib for patients with PIK3CA-dependent HNSCC; and KO-2806, a farnesyl transferase inhibitor for the treatment of solid tumors.