DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX) Shares Pass Above 200 Day Moving Average of $0.98

DURECT Co. (NASDAQ:DRRX) passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $0.98 and traded as high as $1.60. DURECT shares last traded at $1.49, with a volume of 191,522 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DRRX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of DURECT in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $5.00 price target on shares of DURECT in a report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, StockNews.com raised DURECT from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.50.

DURECT Stock Performance

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $1.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $0.98. The company has a market capitalization of $46.25 million, a PE ratio of -1.57 and a beta of 1.12.

DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 13th. The specialty pharmaceutical company reported ($0.25) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.21) by ($0.04). DURECT had a negative return on equity of 328.25% and a negative net margin of 279.77%. The firm had revenue of $1.83 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.73 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that DURECT Co. will post -0.85 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On DURECT

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Richmond Brothers Inc. grew its position in shares of DURECT by 48.2% in the first quarter. Richmond Brothers Inc. now owns 768,344 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $930,000 after purchasing an additional 250,050 shares in the last quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC grew its position in shares of DURECT by 6.0% in the first quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC now owns 380,131 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $460,000 after purchasing an additional 21,425 shares in the last quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. grew its position in shares of DURECT by 10.8% in the first quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 256,220 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $310,000 after purchasing an additional 25,000 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of DURECT by 144.6% in the third quarter. Ironwood Investment Management LLC now owns 206,267 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $514,000 after purchasing an additional 121,930 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Silverberg Bernstein Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of DURECT in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. 28.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About DURECT

DURECT Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, develops medicines based on its epigenetic regulator program. The company's lead product larsucosterol (DUR-928), an endogenous, orally bioavailable small molecule that is in Phase IIb clinical trial to play a regulatory role in lipid metabolism, stress and inflammatory responses, and cell death and survival to treat alcohol-associated hepatitis, as well as completed Phase Ib clinical trial to treat patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.