Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) Stock Price Down 6.1% – Here’s Why

Kura Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ:KURA)’s stock price traded down 6.1% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $9.73 and last traded at $9.7090. 569,519 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 15% from the average session volume of 668,783 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.34.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KURA has been the subject of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Kura Oncology in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $28.00 target price (up from $11.00) on shares of Kura Oncology in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $38.00 price objective (up previously from $36.00) on shares of Kura Oncology in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Kura Oncology in a report on Friday, December 5th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Kura Oncology from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.57.

Kura Oncology Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $830.17 million, a P/E ratio of -3.85 and a beta of 0.25. The business has a fifty day moving average of $10.81 and a 200 day moving average of $8.68. The company has a quick ratio of 5.12, a current ratio of 5.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02.

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

Insider Activity at Kura Oncology

In other news, insider Francis Burrows sold 23,726 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.78, for a total transaction of $232,040.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 33,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $329,928.30. The trade was a 41.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Thomas James Doyle sold 4,539 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.18, for a total value of $50,746.02. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 130,257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,456,273.26. This represents a 3.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 68,343 shares of company stock worth $730,858 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kura Oncology

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of KURA. State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in shares of Kura Oncology during the first quarter valued at about $48,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Kura Oncology by 407.8% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 760,332 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,018,000 after buying an additional 610,604 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its position in Kura Oncology by 57.9% during the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,544,113 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,191,000 after buying an additional 566,193 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in Kura Oncology by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 50,008 shares of the company’s stock worth $333,000 after acquiring an additional 2,977 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teza Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Kura Oncology in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $162,000.

About Kura Oncology

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.