DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX) Given Neutral Rating at HC Wainwright

DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating restated by equities researchers at HC Wainwright in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports.

Separately, StockNews.com initiated coverage on DURECT in a report on Monday. They issued a “sell” rating for the company.

DURECT Price Performance

DRRX stock opened at $1.21 on Thursday. DURECT has a 52-week low of $0.48 and a 52-week high of $1.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.56 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.98 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a 50-day moving average of $1.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $1.37.

DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX) last announced its 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. DURECT had a negative net margin of 187.80% and a negative return on equity of 261.43%. The business had revenue of $2.17 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.49 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.46) earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that DURECT will post -0.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On DURECT

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Richmond Brothers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 303,670 shares during the period. Accredited Investors Inc. acquired a new position in DURECT in the second quarter worth about $113,000. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 25,000 shares during the period. Gagnon Securities LLC boosted its holdings in DURECT by 6.0% during the first quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC now owns 380,131 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $460,000 after purchasing an additional 21,425 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing 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.