AQR Capital Management LLC Acquires 610,604 Shares of Kura Oncology, Inc. $KURA

Key Points

• AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Kura Oncology by 407.8%, holding approximately 760,332 shares valued at $5.02 million after acquiring an additional 610,604 shares in the first quarter.
• Kura Oncology reported a quarterly loss of ($0.75) EPS, significantly missing the analysts' expected earnings of $0.15 and revenue projections of $64.95 million.
• CEO Troy Edward Wilson bought 50,000 shares of Kura Oncology, increasing his holdings by 98.1%, indicating strong insider confidence in the company.

AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Kura Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ:KURA - Free Report) by 407.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 760,332 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 610,604 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC owned 0.88% of Kura Oncology worth $5,018,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Armistice Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Kura Oncology by 13.3% in the 1st 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. boosted its position in Kura Oncology by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,948,235 shares of the company's stock worth $32,658,000 after acquiring an additional 129,337 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in Kura Oncology by 180.1% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,367,148 shares of the company's stock worth $20,618,000 after acquiring an additional 1,521,954 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC boosted its position in Kura Oncology by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 958,492 shares of the company's stock worth $6,326,000 after acquiring an additional 74,789 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Kura Oncology by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 919,079 shares of the company's stock worth $6,066,000 after acquiring an additional 13,895 shares during the period.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on KURA shares. JMP Securities decreased their price objective on Kura Oncology from $28.00 to $24.00 and set a "market outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $36.00 price target on shares of Kura Oncology in a research note on Friday, June 20th. Wall Street Zen raised Kura Oncology from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, August 17th. Guggenheim assumed coverage on Kura Oncology in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. They set a "neutral" rating for the company. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Kura Oncology in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Kura Oncology currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $24.10.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Troy Edward Wilson purchased 50,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $8.20 per share, with a total value of $410,000.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,968 shares in the company, valued at $827,937.60. This represents a 98.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 6.40% of the company's stock.

Kura Oncology Stock Performance

NASDAQ KURA traded up $0.35 during trading on Thursday, hitting $8.44. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,273,061 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,711,480. The company has a quick ratio of 6.16, a current ratio of 6.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $7.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $6.61. The firm has a market cap of $732.57 million, a P/E ratio of -3.73 and a beta of 0.19. Kura Oncology, Inc. has a 52 week low of $5.41 and a 52 week high of $21.40.

Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.75) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.90). The business had revenue of $15.29 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.95 million. Equities research analysts forecast that Kura Oncology, Inc. will post -2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Kura Oncology

Kura Oncology, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, develops medicines for the treatment of cancer. The company's pipeline consists of small molecule product candidates that target cancer. Its lead product candidates are ziftomenib, an orally bioavailable small molecule inhibitor of the menin-KMT2A interaction for the treatment of genetically defined subsets of acute leukemias, including acute myeloid leukemia and acute lymphoblastic leukemia; tipifarnib, an orally bioavailable farnesyl transferase inhibitor combination with alpelisib for patients with PIK3CA-dependent HNSCC; and KO-2806, a farnesyl transferase inhibitor for the treatment of solid tumors.