DURECT Co. (NASDAQ:DRRX) is Richmond Brothers Inc.’s 7th Largest Position

Richmond Brothers Inc. grew its position in shares of DURECT Co. (NASDAQ:DRRX) by 39.5% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,072,014 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 303,670 shares during the period. DURECT comprises approximately 2.7% of Richmond Brothers Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Richmond Brothers Inc.’s holdings in DURECT were worth $1,383,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in DURECT by 41.3% in the 2nd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 21,550 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 6,300 shares in the last quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. purchased a new stake in DURECT in the 2nd quarter worth $113,000. Gagnon Securities LLC increased its holdings in DURECT by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC now owns 380,131 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $460,000 after acquiring an additional 21,425 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in DURECT by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 256,220 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $310,000 after acquiring an additional 25,000 shares in the last quarter. 28.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

DURECT Stock Down 4.9 %

Shares of DRRX opened at $1.35 on Thursday. DURECT Co. has a 52-week low of $0.47 and a 52-week high of $3.14. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $1.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1.29. The stock has a market cap of $41.90 million, a PE ratio of -1.42 and a beta of 1.14.

DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 13th. The specialty pharmaceutical company reported ($0.12) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.17) by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.17 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.49 million. DURECT had a negative net margin of 187.80% and a negative return on equity of 261.43%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.46) EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that DURECT Co. will post -0.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DRRX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of DURECT from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of DURECT in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd.

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.