Kura Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ:KURA) Short Interest Down 8.8% in October

Kura Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ:KURA) was the target of a large drop in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,290,000 shares, a drop of 8.8% from the September 30th total of 10,190,000 shares. Approximately 14.3% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 545,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 17.0 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KURA has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $32.00 price target on shares of Kura Oncology in a report on Thursday, October 24th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $32.00 price objective on shares of Kura Oncology in a report on Monday, August 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Kura Oncology in a report on Monday, September 9th. Lifesci Capital raised shares of Kura Oncology to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Kura Oncology in a report on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $27.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $28.83.

Institutional Trading of Kura Oncology

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in Kura Oncology in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Kura Oncology by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 18,014 shares of the company’s stock worth $384,000 after buying an additional 1,588 shares in the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Kura Oncology by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 70,148 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,444,000 after buying an additional 1,673 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in shares of Kura Oncology by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 38,536 shares of the company’s stock worth $793,000 after buying an additional 1,976 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its position in shares of Kura Oncology by 13.4% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 18,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $374,000 after buying an additional 2,167 shares in the last quarter.

Kura Oncology Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ KURA traded down $0.25 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $16.72. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 538,032 shares, compared to its average volume of 894,936. Kura Oncology has a 1-year low of $7.92 and a 1-year high of $24.17. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $19.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 14.94 and a current ratio of 14.94. The firm has a market cap of $1.27 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.65 and a beta of 0.84.

Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported ($0.59) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.63) by $0.04. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.53) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Kura Oncology will post -2.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.