HC Wainwright Reiterates Buy Rating for Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA)

Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by equities researchers at HC Wainwright in a research report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $40.00 price objective on the stock. HC Wainwright’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 336.21% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Kura Oncology in a report on Friday, December 5th. Zacks Research upgraded Kura Oncology from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective (up from $11.00) on shares of Kura Oncology in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $38.00 target price (up from $36.00) on shares of Kura Oncology in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Kura Oncology in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $29.33.

Kura Oncology Trading Down 2.6%

Shares of Kura Oncology stock opened at $9.17 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $797.97 million, a P/E ratio of -3.70 and a beta of 0.25. 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 has a 12-month low of $5.41 and a 12-month high of $12.49. The business’s 50 day moving average is $10.71 and its 200-day moving average is $8.83.

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

Insider Activity at Kura Oncology

In related news, insider Mollie Leoni sold 15,485 shares of Kura Oncology stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.18, for a total transaction of $173,122.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 225,454 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,520,575.72. This trade represents a 6.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Francis Burrows sold 23,726 shares of the company’s 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 directly owned 33,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $329,928.30. This represents a 41.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 68,343 shares of company stock valued at $730,858 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Kura Oncology by 392.8% during the third quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,854 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 3,072 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in Kura Oncology by 127.2% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 6,732 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 3,769 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Kura Oncology during the 3rd quarter worth $89,000. Jain Global LLC acquired a new position in Kura Oncology in the 3rd quarter valued at $91,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Kura Oncology by 222.3% during the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 10,423 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,000 after acquiring an additional 7,189 shares during the period.

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.