DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX) Share Price Passes Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Here’s What Happened

DURECT Co. (NASDAQ:DRRX)’s share price crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $1.32 and traded as high as $1.47. DURECT shares last traded at $1.43, with a volume of 72,326 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on DRRX shares. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of DURECT in a report on Thursday, September 26th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of DURECT in a report on Saturday. They set a “sell” rating on the stock.

DURECT Trading Down 1.4 %

The firm has a market cap of $44.39 million, a P/E ratio of -1.51 and a beta of 1.13. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $1.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $1.32.

DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 13th. The specialty pharmaceutical company reported ($0.12) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.17) by $0.05. The business had revenue of $2.17 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 last year, the firm earned ($0.46) EPS. Analysts anticipate that DURECT Co. will post -0.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On DURECT

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of DRRX. Richmond Brothers Inc. boosted its stake in shares of DURECT by 48.2% during the 1st 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. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of DURECT by 10.8% during the 1st 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. Gagnon Securities LLC lifted its position in DURECT by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC now owns 380,131 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $460,000 after acquiring an additional 21,425 shares during the period. Accredited Investors Inc. purchased a new position in DURECT during the 2nd quarter valued at about $113,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in DURECT by 41.3% during the 2nd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 21,550 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 6,300 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 28.03% of the company’s stock.

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.