JPMorgan Chase & Co. Cuts Stake in Kura Oncology, Inc. $KURA

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered its holdings in shares of Kura Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ:KURA) by 63.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,036 shares of the company’s stock after selling 58,655 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Kura Oncology were worth $301,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Kura Oncology by 392.8% during the 3rd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,854 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 3,072 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in Kura Oncology by 127.2% during the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 6,732 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 3,769 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in Kura Oncology by 471.3% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 12,071 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 9,958 shares in the last quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Kura Oncology during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $80,000. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Kura Oncology during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $89,000.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Brian T. Powl sold 6,414 shares of Kura Oncology stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.46, for a total value of $54,262.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 183,275 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,550,506.50. The trade was a 3.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Mollie Leoni sold 8,180 shares of Kura Oncology stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider owned 267,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,261,138.04. This trade represents a 2.97% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 36,068 shares of company stock worth $305,135 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Kura Oncology Price Performance

Shares of Kura Oncology stock opened at $9.05 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $803.28 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.85 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 6.05 and a current ratio of 6.06. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $8.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.51. Kura Oncology, Inc. has a one year low of $5.45 and a one year high of $12.49.

Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The company reported ($0.92) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.72) by ($0.20). The company had revenue of $17.34 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.71 million. Kura Oncology had a negative return on equity of 102.59% and a negative net margin of 412.95%. Equities analysts expect that Kura Oncology, Inc. will post -2.44 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Leerink Partners set a $20.00 price target on Kura Oncology and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Mizuho cut their price target on Kura Oncology from $30.00 to $25.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Wall Street Zen cut Kura Oncology from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $15.00 price target (down from $16.00) on shares of Kura Oncology in a report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Wedbush cut their price target on Kura Oncology from $38.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 6th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Kura Oncology has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.38.

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.