Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) Receives "Market Outperform" Rating from Citizens Jmp

Key Points

• Citizens JMP reaffirmed a “Market Outperform” rating on Kura Oncology and set a $24 price target, implying approximately 102% upside from the prior close.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive, with 10 Buy ratings, two Holds and one Sell; the consensus rating is “Moderate Buy” with an average price target of $25.40.
• Kura reported a quarterly loss of $0.77 per share, beating estimates of $0.88, while revenue of $20.87 million exceeded the $20.16 million consensus forecast. The company remains unprofitable, with a negative net margin of 384.30%.

Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "market outperform" rating restated by research analysts at Citizens Jmp in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $24.00 price target on the stock. Citizens Jmp's price target would indicate a potential upside of 101.85% from the company's previous close.

KURA has been the topic of a number of other research reports. CLSA set a $24.00 price objective on shares of Kura Oncology in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $24.00 target price on shares of Kura Oncology in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Kura Oncology from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Wedbush lifted their price target on Kura Oncology from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Kura Oncology in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $25.40.

Kura Oncology Price Performance

Shares of Kura Oncology stock opened at $11.89 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.53 and a beta of 0.38. Kura Oncology has a twelve month low of $7.36 and a twelve month high of $12.90. The company has a current ratio of 4.73, a quick ratio of 4.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $10.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.47.

Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 12th. The company reported ($0.77) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.88) by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $20.87 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.16 million. Kura Oncology had a negative return on equity of 207.18% and a negative net margin of 384.30%. Equities research analysts forecast that Kura Oncology will post -3.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kura Oncology

In other Kura Oncology news, insider Mollie Leoni sold 84,929 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.82, for a total transaction of $834,002.78. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 182,345 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,790,627.90. The trade was a 31.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Teresa Brophy Bair sold 31,487 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.63, for a total transaction of $397,680.81. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 195,444 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,468,457.72. This trade represents a 13.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 7.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kura Oncology

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Kura Oncology by 32.3% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,425,945 shares of the company's stock worth $11,591,000 after buying an additional 348,127 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Kura Oncology by 69.7% in the second quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 568,845 shares of the company's stock worth $6,240,000 after buying an additional 233,633 shares during the period. UBS Group AG boosted its holdings in shares of Kura Oncology by 118.3% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,060,025 shares of the company's stock worth $11,014,000 after buying an additional 574,455 shares during the period. Nan Fung Trinity HK Ltd. increased its position in shares of Kura Oncology by 317.9% in the fourth quarter. Nan Fung Trinity HK Ltd. now owns 964,880 shares of the company's stock worth $10,025,000 after acquiring an additional 734,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its position in shares of Kura Oncology by 285.6% in the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 158,850 shares of the company's stock worth $1,291,000 after acquiring an additional 117,650 shares in the last quarter.

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.

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