DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX) Share Price Crosses Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average of $0.98

DURECT Co. (NASDAQ:DRRX) passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $0.98 and traded as high as $1.23. DURECT shares last traded at $1.20, with a volume of 104,088 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DRRX has been the topic of several recent research reports. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of DURECT in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $5.00 target price on shares of DURECT in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded DURECT from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, DURECT has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $27.50.

DURECT Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average is $1.03 and its 200-day moving average is $0.98. The stock has a market cap of $37.25 million, a PE ratio of -0.98 and a beta of 0.94.

DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 27th. The specialty pharmaceutical company reported ($0.27) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.36) by $0.09. DURECT had a negative net margin of 323.16% and a negative return on equity of 316.78%. The firm had revenue of $2.67 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that DURECT Co. will post -1.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. CM Management LLC lifted its position in DURECT by 11.7% in the third quarter. CM Management LLC now owns 525,000 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,307,000 after buying an additional 55,000 shares during the last quarter. Richmond Brothers Inc. acquired a new position in DURECT in the fourth quarter valued at about $306,000. Ironwood Investment Management LLC lifted its position in DURECT by 144.6% in the third quarter. Ironwood Investment Management LLC now owns 206,267 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $514,000 after buying an additional 121,930 shares during the last quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in DURECT by 111.9% in the third quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 195,020 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $486,000 after buying an additional 103,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Accredited Investors Inc. acquired a new position in DURECT in the third quarter valued at about $141,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.03% of the company’s stock.

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.