Wall Street Zen Upgrades Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) to Hold

Key Points

• Investment firm Wall Street Zen upgraded Kura Oncology from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating, indicating a shift in sentiment regarding the stock's performance.
• Kura Oncology has received varied ratings from multiple research firms, with a majority giving it a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $24.10.
• Despite a recent earnings report showing a significant miss on revenue expectations, Kura Oncology continues to attract institutional investment, with several firms increasing their stakes in the company.

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA - Free Report) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Sunday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on KURA. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Kura Oncology in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Mizuho decreased their target price on Kura Oncology from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Kura Oncology in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Kura Oncology from $32.00 to $11.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $36.00 target price on shares of Kura Oncology in a research note on Friday, June 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $24.10.

Kura Oncology Trading Down 0.6%

KURA stock traded down $0.0440 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $7.1460. 419,141 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,433,941. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 6.16 and a current ratio of 6.16. Kura Oncology has a one year low of $5.41 and a one year high of $21.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $620.27 million, a PE ratio of -3.16 and a beta of 0.41. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $6.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $6.63.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BVF Inc. IL grew its holdings in Kura Oncology by 202.0% in the first quarter. BVF Inc. IL now owns 7,754,129 shares of the company's stock valued at $51,177,000 after purchasing an additional 5,186,660 shares during the last quarter. RA Capital Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Kura Oncology in the fourth quarter valued at $38,769,000. EcoR1 Capital LLC grew its holdings in Kura Oncology by 59.1% in the second quarter. EcoR1 Capital LLC now owns 4,200,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $24,234,000 after purchasing an additional 1,559,702 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in Kura Oncology by 180.1% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,367,148 shares of the company's stock valued at $20,618,000 after purchasing an additional 1,521,954 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Kura Oncology in the fourth quarter valued at $8,518,000.

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.