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

StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX) in a research note released on Friday. The firm issued a sell rating on the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock.

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

DURECT Price Performance

DURECT stock opened at $1.32 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $1.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $1.30. The firm has a market cap of $40.97 million, a PE ratio of -1.39 and a beta of 1.13. DURECT has a one year low of $0.47 and a one year high of $3.14.

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 analysts’ expectations 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 period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.46) EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that DURECT will post -0.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of DURECT

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Richmond Brothers Inc. boosted its stake in shares of DURECT by 39.5% in the 2nd quarter. Richmond Brothers Inc. now owns 1,072,014 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,383,000 after purchasing an additional 303,670 shares during the last quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. acquired a new position in DURECT in the second quarter valued at $113,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in 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 last quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC grew its holdings in DURECT by 6.0% during the 1st 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 during the period. Finally, Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of 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 worth $310,000 after acquiring an additional 25,000 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.