Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Increases Holdings in Kura Oncology, Inc. $KURA

Key Points

• Dimensional Fund Advisors increased its Kura Oncology stake by 32.3% in the first quarter, adding 348,127 shares to own 1.43 million shares valued at approximately $11.6 million.
• Several other major institutions also expanded their positions, including State Street, which raised its stake by 47.5%, while insider Mollie Leoni sold 84,929 shares worth about $834,000.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $25.46 versus KURA’s recent price of $9.57. The company remains unprofitable, reporting a quarterly loss of $0.83 per share and $18.27 million in revenue.

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Kura Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ:KURA - Free Report) by 32.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,425,945 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 348,127 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned approximately 1.61% of Kura Oncology worth $11,591,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of KURA. Suvretta Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Kura Oncology by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC now owns 8,575,422 shares of the company's stock valued at $89,099,000 after purchasing an additional 459,422 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Kura Oncology by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,507,627 shares of the company's stock worth $57,224,000 after purchasing an additional 39,105 shares during the period. Armistice Capital LLC grew its position in Kura Oncology by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Armistice Capital LLC now owns 4,936,000 shares of the company's stock worth $51,285,000 after purchasing an additional 264,000 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Kura Oncology by 47.5% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,931,090 shares of the company's stock valued at $51,234,000 after buying an additional 1,587,959 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Kura Oncology by 36.6% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,062,212 shares of the company's stock valued at $31,816,000 after buying an additional 820,020 shares during the last quarter.

Insider Transactions at Kura Oncology

In other Kura Oncology news, insider Mollie Leoni sold 84,929 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.82, for a total transaction of $834,002.78. Following the transaction, the insider owned 182,345 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,790,627.90. This represents a 31.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 7.60% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Kura Oncology in a research note on Friday, July 17th. CLSA set a $24.00 target price on Kura Oncology in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $24.00 price target on Kura Oncology in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $24.00 price target on Kura Oncology in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $24.00 price objective on Kura Oncology in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $25.46.

Kura Oncology Price Performance

KURA opened at $9.57 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $10.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $849.53 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.86 and a beta of 0.38. Kura Oncology, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $5.45 and a fifty-two week high of $12.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 6.14 and a current ratio of 6.15.

Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 12th. The company reported ($0.83) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.88) by $0.05. Kura Oncology had a negative net margin of 411.19% and a negative return on equity of 141.95%. The business had revenue of $18.27 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.97 million. On average, research analysts expect that Kura Oncology, Inc. will post -3.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Kura Oncology 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.

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