StockNews.com Begins Coverage on DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX)

StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX) in a report released on Sunday 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 report on Thursday, September 26th.

DURECT Trading Down 8.2 %

Shares of DRRX stock opened at $1.35 on Friday. DURECT has a 12-month low of $0.47 and a 12-month high of $2.73. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $1.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $1.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.90 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.21 and a beta of 1.13.

DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 13th. The specialty pharmaceutical company reported ($0.12) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.17) by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.17 million for 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.46) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that DURECT will post -0.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of DURECT

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in DRRX. Richmond Brothers Inc. increased its holdings in 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. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 6,300 shares during the last quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. acquired a new stake in DURECT in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $113,000. Gagnon Securities LLC increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 21,425 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 25,000 shares during 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.