Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) was upgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Kura Oncology from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, February 22nd. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Kura Oncology in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Leerink Partners set a $20.00 price target on Kura Oncology and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $38.00 price target (up from $36.00) on shares of Kura Oncology in a report on Friday, November 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Kura Oncology in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $28.00.

Kura Oncology Price Performance

KURA opened at $8.73 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $759.68 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.52 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a quick ratio of 5.12, a current ratio of 5.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $8.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.33. Kura Oncology has a twelve month low of $5.41 and a twelve month high of $12.49.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kura Oncology news, SVP Thomas James Doyle sold 7,142 shares of Kura Oncology stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.46, for a total transaction of $60,421.32. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 145,167 shares in the company, valued at $1,228,112.82. The trade was a 4.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Mollie Leoni sold 8,180 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.46, for a total transaction of $69,202.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 267,274 shares in the company, valued at $2,261,138.04. The trade was a 2.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 59,794 shares of company stock valued at $537,176 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kura Oncology

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its stake in Kura Oncology by 115.3% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,398 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,284 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kura Oncology by 392.8% during the 3rd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,854 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 3,072 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in Kura Oncology by 59.9% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 4,146 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 1,553 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted 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 worth $60,000 after buying an additional 3,769 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in Kura Oncology by 471.3% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 12,071 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 9,958 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.