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

Equities researchers at StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX) in a report issued on Sunday. The firm set a “sell” rating on the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock.

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

DURECT Stock Performance

Shares of DRRX opened at $1.34 on Friday. DURECT has a fifty-two week low of $0.47 and a fifty-two week high of $3.14. The firm has a market cap of $41.59 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.20 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $1.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $1.34.

DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 13th. The specialty pharmaceutical company reported ($0.12) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.49 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.46) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that DURECT will post -0.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of DURECT

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Richmond Brothers Inc. raised its position in DURECT by 39.5% during 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. bought a new position in shares of DURECT during the second quarter valued at approximately $113,000. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in DURECT by 10.8% in the first 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 during the period. Gagnon Securities LLC increased its position in DURECT by 6.0% during 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 period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in DURECT by 41.3% during 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. 28.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.