DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX) Receives “Neutral” Rating from HC Wainwright

DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating restated by stock analysts at HC Wainwright in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports.

Separately, StockNews.com lowered DURECT from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th.

DURECT Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:DRRX opened at $1.22 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $1.45 and a 200-day moving average of $1.30. DURECT has a twelve month low of $0.47 and a twelve month high of $3.14. The firm has a market cap of $37.87 million, a PE ratio of -1.28 and a beta of 1.14.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On DURECT

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in DRRX. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of DURECT by 41.3% during the second quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 21,550 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 6,300 shares during the last quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. purchased a new position in DURECT during the second quarter worth about $113,000. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 25,000 shares in the last quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC increased its stake in DURECT by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC now owns 380,131 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $460,000 after buying an additional 21,425 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Richmond Brothers Inc. boosted its stake in shares of DURECT by 48.2% in the 1st quarter. Richmond Brothers Inc. now owns 768,344 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $930,000 after buying an additional 250,050 shares during the last quarter. 28.03% of the stock is owned by 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.