DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX) Earns Sell Rating from Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX) in a report published on Monday. The brokerage issued a sell rating on the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock.

Separately, HC Wainwright restated a “neutral” rating on shares of DURECT in a report on Thursday, September 26th.

DURECT Stock Performance

Shares of DRRX stock opened at $1.12 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $1.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $1.37. DURECT has a 52-week low of $0.48 and a 52-week high of $1.88. The stock has a market cap of $34.76 million, a PE ratio of -1.84 and a beta of 1.13.

DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 13th. The specialty pharmaceutical company reported ($0.12) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 261.43% and a negative net margin of 187.80%. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.46) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that DURECT will post -0.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of DURECT

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Richmond Brothers Inc. raised its holdings in DURECT by 39.5% during the 2nd quarter. Richmond Brothers Inc. now owns 1,072,014 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,383,000 after buying an additional 303,670 shares during the period. Gagnon Securities LLC increased its position in shares of DURECT by 6.0% during the first 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. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of DURECT by 10.8% during the first 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 during the period. Accredited Investors Inc. bought a new stake in DURECT in the 2nd quarter valued at $113,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings 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 worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 6,300 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.