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

Equities researchers at StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Sunday. The brokerage set a “sell” rating on the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock.

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

DURECT Price Performance

NASDAQ:DRRX opened at $0.75 on Friday. DURECT has a 1-year low of $0.70 and a 1-year high of $1.88. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $0.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $0.93. The firm has a market cap of $23.15 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.22 and a beta of 0.88.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On DURECT

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its position in shares of 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. Richmond Brothers Inc. lifted its holdings in DURECT by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Richmond Brothers Inc. now owns 1,281,176 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $961,000 after buying an additional 138,920 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in DURECT by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 319,905 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $429,000 after buying an additional 14,658 shares during the period. 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.