Vanguard Group Inc. Purchases 129,337 Shares of Kura Oncology, Inc. $KURA

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Kura Oncology by 2.7%, acquiring an additional 129,337 shares, bringing its total ownership to 4,948,235 shares valued at approximately $32.7 million.
• Analyst ratings for Kura Oncology are mixed, with one analyst assigning a Strong Buy rating, while others have lowered their price targets, suggesting a current consensus price target of $24.10.
• Kura Oncology reported a net loss of ($0.75) earnings per share for the last quarter, significantly missing the consensus estimate of $0.15, while also reporting revenue of $15.29 million, below expectations.

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Kura Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ:KURA - Free Report) by 2.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,948,235 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 129,337 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 5.72% of Kura Oncology worth $32,658,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Kura Oncology during the first quarter worth about $66,000. Flower City Capital acquired a new position in Kura Oncology during the first quarter worth about $79,000. Corton Capital Inc. acquired a new position in Kura Oncology during the fourth quarter worth about $99,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in Kura Oncology by 117.8% during the first quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 17,474 shares of the company's stock worth $115,000 after acquiring an additional 9,450 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Kura Oncology during the fourth quarter worth about $130,000.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KURA has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JMP Securities lowered their target price on Kura Oncology from $28.00 to $24.00 and set a "market outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 11th. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $36.00 price target on shares of Kura Oncology in a research note on Friday, June 20th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Kura Oncology from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, August 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Kura Oncology in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of Kura Oncology from $32.00 to $11.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $24.10.

Kura Oncology Stock Performance

KURA traded down $0.17 on Friday, hitting $7.90. The company had a trading volume of 1,676,056 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,943,126. The company's fifty day moving average price is $6.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $6.57. Kura Oncology, Inc. has a 1-year low of $5.41 and a 1-year high of $21.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 6.16 and a quick ratio of 6.16. The stock has a market cap of $685.72 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.50 and a beta of 0.41.

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

Kura Oncology Company Profile

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.