DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX) Now Covered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com began coverage on shares of DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX) in a report released on Wednesday. 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 research note on Thursday, March 27th.

DURECT Stock Performance

DRRX opened at $0.65 on Wednesday. DURECT has a one year low of $0.52 and a one year high of $1.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.12 million, a PE ratio of -1.06 and a beta of 0.66. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $0.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $0.85.

DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The specialty pharmaceutical company reported ($0.06) 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 business had revenue of $2.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.91 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that DURECT will post -0.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its stake in DURECT by 266.0% during the fourth quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 39,196 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 28,486 shares in the last quarter. Dalton Investments Inc. lifted its stake in DURECT by 109.1% during the first quarter. Dalton Investments Inc. now owns 512,312 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $411,000 after purchasing an additional 267,312 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Richmond Brothers Inc. lifted its stake in DURECT by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. Richmond Brothers Inc. now owns 1,281,176 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $961,000 after purchasing an additional 138,920 shares in the last quarter. 28.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.