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

Kura Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ:KURA)’s stock price traded down 6.1% during trading on Monday . The company 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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on KURA. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Kura Oncology in a report on Friday, November 14th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective (up from $11.00) on shares of Kura Oncology in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Kura Oncology in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Kura Oncology in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target 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 given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.57.

Kura Oncology Trading Down 7.7%

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $10.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $8.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $830.17 million, a P/E ratio of -3.85 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 (NASDAQ:KURA) last issued 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). Kura Oncology had a negative net margin of 208.48% and a negative return on equity of 65.42%. The firm had revenue of $20.75 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.48 million. As a group, analysts forecast that Kura Oncology, Inc. will post -2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Trading of Kura Oncology

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kura Oncology by 392.8% in the third quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,854 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 3,072 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in Kura Oncology by 127.2% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 6,732 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 3,769 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming bought a new position in Kura Oncology during the 1st quarter valued at $48,000. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Kura Oncology during the 3rd quarter worth $89,000. Finally, Jain Global LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kura Oncology in the 3rd quarter worth $91,000.

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.