Man Group plc Makes New $4.75 Million Investment in Kura Oncology, Inc. $KURA

Man Group plc acquired a new stake in shares of Kura Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ:KURA) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 432,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,749,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. IFP Advisors Inc raised its holdings in Kura Oncology by 115.3% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,398 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,284 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in shares of Kura Oncology by 59.9% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 4,146 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 1,553 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Kura Oncology by 49.0% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,742 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 1,888 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position in shares of Kura Oncology by 471.3% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 12,071 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 9,958 shares during the period. Finally, Brevan Howard Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Kura Oncology during the 2nd quarter valued at about $80,000.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kura Oncology news, CEO Troy Edward Wilson bought 100,000 shares of Kura Oncology stock in a transaction on Monday, August 24th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $12.39 per share, for a total transaction of $1,239,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 479,194 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,937,213.66. This trade represents a 26.37% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Teresa Brophy Bair sold 31,487 shares of Kura Oncology stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.63, for a total transaction of $397,680.81. Following the sale, the insider owned 195,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,468,457.72. The trade was a 13.88% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 120,761 shares of company stock worth $1,283,346 in the last 90 days. 7.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KURA has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley set a $24.00 price objective on Kura Oncology in a research note on Monday, August 24th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Kura Oncology in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Kura Oncology in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $24.00 target price on shares of Kura Oncology in a report on Monday, August 24th. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $24.00 target price on Kura Oncology in a research report on Monday, August 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.40.

Kura Oncology Stock Performance

NASDAQ KURA opened at $12.66 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 4.73 and a quick ratio of 4.71. Kura Oncology, Inc. has a 1-year low of $7.36 and a 1-year high of $13.90. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $10.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.13 billion, a PE ratio of -3.76 and a beta of 0.38.

Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 12th. The company reported ($0.77) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.88) by $0.11. Kura Oncology had a negative net margin of 384.30% and a negative return on equity of 207.18%. The business had revenue of $20.87 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.16 million. On average, research analysts predict that Kura Oncology, Inc. will post -3.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kura Oncology Company Profile

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.