Francis Burrows Sells 23,726 Shares of Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) Stock

Kura Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ:KURA) insider Francis Burrows sold 23,726 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.78, for a total value of $232,040.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 33,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $329,928.30. This trade represents a 41.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Kura Oncology Trading Down 0.1%

NASDAQ KURA traded down $0.01 on Friday, hitting $9.84. 4,072,614 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,608,468. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $10.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $8.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 5.12 and a quick ratio of 5.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $856.28 million, a P/E ratio of -3.97 and a beta of 0.21. Kura Oncology, Inc. has a twelve month low of $5.41 and a twelve month high of $12.49.

Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported ($0.85) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.57) by ($0.28). The firm had revenue of $20.75 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.48 million. Kura Oncology had a negative return on equity of 65.42% and a negative net margin of 208.48%. Analysts predict that Kura Oncology, Inc. will post -2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on KURA. Zacks Research upgraded Kura Oncology from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $24.00 price objective on shares of Kura Oncology in a report on Monday, October 20th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Kura Oncology in a report on Friday, November 14th. UBS Group increased their price target on Kura Oncology from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 14th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $38.00 target price (up from $36.00) on shares of Kura Oncology in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.57.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kura Oncology

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KURA. BVF Inc. IL raised its holdings in Kura Oncology by 202.0% in the 1st quarter. BVF Inc. IL now owns 7,754,129 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,177,000 after acquiring an additional 5,186,660 shares in the last quarter. Armistice Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Kura Oncology by 13.3% during the first quarter. Armistice Capital LLC now owns 6,572,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,375,000 after purchasing an additional 772,000 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Kura Oncology by 2.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,468,522 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,396,000 after purchasing an additional 120,197 shares during the period. EcoR1 Capital LLC boosted its stake in Kura Oncology by 59.1% during the second quarter. EcoR1 Capital LLC now owns 4,200,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,234,000 after buying an additional 1,559,702 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its position in Kura Oncology by 101.6% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 2,224,590 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,688,000 after purchasing an additional 1,121,228 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.