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

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

Kura Oncology Stock Down 1.5 %

KURA traded down $0.25 on Thursday, reaching $16.72. 538,032 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 894,936. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $19.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.03. Kura Oncology has a 52-week low of $7.92 and a 52-week high of $24.17. The company has a market cap of $1.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.65 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 14.94 and a quick ratio of 14.94.

Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported ($0.59) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.63) by $0.04. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.53) EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Kura Oncology will post -2.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KURA. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Kura Oncology in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Kura Oncology in the first quarter valued at approximately $110,000. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Kura Oncology in the second quarter valued at approximately $196,000. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in Kura Oncology in the first quarter valued at approximately $218,000. Finally, China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Kura Oncology by 64.7% in the third quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 14,739 shares of the company’s stock valued at $288,000 after acquiring an additional 5,788 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Kura Oncology from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $32.00 target price on shares of Kura Oncology in a report on Monday, August 12th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Kura Oncology from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $26.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Monday, October 14th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $32.00 target price on shares of Kura Oncology in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Lifesci Capital raised shares of Kura Oncology to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $28.83.

Kura Oncology Company Profile

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.