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

StockNews.com began coverage on shares of DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX) in a report released on Saturday. 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 research note on Thursday, September 26th.

DURECT Trading Down 1.4 %

DRRX opened at $1.43 on Friday. DURECT has a 1-year low of $0.47 and a 1-year high of $3.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.39 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.51 and a beta of 1.13. The business has a 50 day moving average of $1.38 and a 200-day moving average of $1.32.

DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 13th. The specialty pharmaceutical company reported ($0.12) earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations 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 in the prior year, the business earned ($0.46) earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that DURECT will post -0.78 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Richmond Brothers Inc. raised its stake in DURECT by 39.5% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. bought a new position in shares of DURECT during the second quarter valued at $113,000. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. lifted 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 valued at $310,000 after acquiring an additional 25,000 shares during the period. Gagnon Securities LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $460,000 after acquiring an additional 21,425 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 6,300 shares during the period. 28.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.