DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at StockNews.com

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

Separately, HC Wainwright restated a neutral rating on shares of DURECT in a research note on Thursday, September 26th.

DURECT Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of DURECT stock opened at $1.34 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $1.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $1.30. DURECT has a 1-year low of $0.47 and a 1-year high of $3.14. The company has a market cap of $41.59 million, a P/E ratio of -1.41 and a beta of 1.14.

DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 13th. The specialty pharmaceutical company reported ($0.12) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.17) by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.17 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 business posted ($0.46) EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that DURECT will post -0.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On DURECT

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position 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 valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 6,300 shares in the last quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. bought a new position in DURECT in the 2nd quarter valued at about $113,000. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. lifted 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 valued at $310,000 after acquiring an additional 25,000 shares in the last quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 21,425 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Richmond Brothers Inc. lifted its position in DURECT by 48.2% in the 1st quarter. Richmond Brothers Inc. now owns 768,344 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $930,000 after acquiring an additional 250,050 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 28.03% of the company’s stock.

DURECT Company Profile

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.