DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX) Research Coverage Started at StockNews.com

StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX) in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning. The brokerage issued a sell rating on the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock.

Separately, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of DURECT in a research report on Thursday, March 27th.

DURECT Stock Down 2.0 %

DRRX opened at $0.78 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $0.79 and a 200 day moving average of $0.97. The stock has a market cap of $24.30 million, a P/E ratio of -1.28 and a beta of 0.88. DURECT has a 52-week low of $0.70 and a 52-week high of $1.88.

DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The specialty pharmaceutical company reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06 by ($0.12). DURECT had a negative net margin of 198.58% and a negative return on equity of 300.62%. The company had revenue of $2.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.91 million. Equities analysts anticipate that DURECT will post -0.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of DURECT

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRRX. Jane Street Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of DURECT by 266.0% in the 4th quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 39,196 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 28,486 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in DURECT by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 319,905 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $429,000 after acquiring an additional 14,658 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Richmond Brothers Inc. increased its holdings in shares of DURECT by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. Richmond Brothers Inc. now owns 1,281,176 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $961,000 after acquiring an additional 138,920 shares during the period. 28.03% of the stock is 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.