Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) Shares Up 6.2% – Should You Buy?

Kura Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ:KURA)’s stock price rose 6.2% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $11.67 and last traded at $11.7250. 966,359 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 40% from the average daily volume of 1,598,565 shares. The stock had previously closed at $11.04.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on KURA. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Kura Oncology from $30.00 to $25.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $15.00 price target (down from $16.00) on shares of Kura Oncology in a report on Friday, March 13th. Oppenheimer set a $24.00 price target on Kura Oncology in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Kura Oncology in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $24.00 price objective on Kura Oncology in a 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 issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.46.

Kura Oncology Stock Performance

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 6.15 and a quick ratio of 6.14. The stock has a market cap of $1.08 billion, a PE ratio of -3.62 and a beta of 0.35.

Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 12th. The company reported ($0.83) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.88) by $0.05. The company had revenue of $18.27 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.97 million. Kura Oncology had a negative return on equity of 141.95% and a negative net margin of 411.19%. Equities analysts predict that Kura Oncology, Inc. will post -3.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Kura Oncology

In other news, insider Mollie Leoni sold 84,929 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.82, for a total transaction of $834,002.78. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 182,345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,790,627.90. This trade represents a 31.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 7.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Kura Oncology by 47.5% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,931,090 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,234,000 after purchasing an additional 1,587,959 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in Kura Oncology by 101.6% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 2,224,590 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,688,000 after buying an additional 1,121,228 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in Kura Oncology by 111.6% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,830,566 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,020,000 after buying an additional 965,256 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Kura Oncology by 36.6% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its stake in Kura Oncology by 63.0% during the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 1,911,886 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,032,000 after buying an additional 738,761 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.