Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) Share Price Passes Below Fifty Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Kura Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ:KURA)’s stock price crossed below its fifty day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a fifty day moving average of $9.45 and traded as low as $7.63. Kura Oncology shares last traded at $8.02, with a volume of 1,220,556 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on KURA shares. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Kura Oncology from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 14th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 price target on shares of Kura Oncology in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Zacks Research cut Kura Oncology from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $24.00 price objective on shares of Kura Oncology in a report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Kura Oncology in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $28.00.

Kura Oncology Stock Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average of $9.45 and a 200 day moving average of $9.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $697.90 million, a P/E ratio of -3.23 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 5.12 and a current ratio of 5.12.

Insider Activity at Kura Oncology

In other news, insider Mollie Leoni sold 8,180 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.46, for a total value of $69,202.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 267,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,261,138.04. This trade represents a 2.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Francis Burrows sold 23,726 shares of Kura Oncology stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.78, for a total value of $232,040.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 33,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $329,928.30. This represents a 41.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 59,794 shares of company stock valued at $537,176. 6.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kura Oncology

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Kura Oncology by 6.3% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 50,008 shares of the company’s stock valued at $333,000 after purchasing an additional 2,977 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio bought a new position in Kura Oncology in the 1st quarter valued at $143,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS increased its stake in shares of Kura Oncology by 179.4% in the 2nd quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 19,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $110,000 after buying an additional 12,200 shares during the period. CWM LLC increased its stake in shares of Kura Oncology by 46.0% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 41,406 shares of the company’s stock valued at $239,000 after buying an additional 13,053 shares during the period. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new stake in shares of Kura Oncology during the second quarter worth $328,000.

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.