DURECT Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:DRRX)

DURECT Corporation (NASDAQ:DRRX) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors acquired 5,035 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 368% compared to the typical volume of 1,076 put options.

DURECT Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of DURECT stock opened at $1.91 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $1.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $0.95. The company has a market cap of $59.31 million, a P/E ratio of -19.10 and a beta of 0.92. DURECT has a 12-month low of $0.48 and a 12-month high of $2.64.

DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 12th. The specialty pharmaceutical company reported ($0.07) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by $0.06. The company had revenue of $0.45 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.32 million. DURECT had a negative net margin of 96.19% and a negative return on equity of 259.16%. Analysts predict that DURECT will post -0.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Northland Capmk lowered shares of DURECT from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Wall Street Zen assumed coverage on shares of DURECT in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. They set a “sell” rating for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold”.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On DURECT

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ingalls & Snyder LLC increased its holdings in shares of DURECT by 1.1% in the second quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC now owns 1,349,435 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $857,000 after purchasing an additional 14,637 shares during the period. Beirne Wealth Consulting Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of DURECT by 6.0% in the second quarter. Beirne Wealth Consulting Services LLC now owns 314,150 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $200,000 after purchasing an additional 17,800 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of DURECT by 266.0% in the fourth 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 during the period. Richmond Brothers Inc. increased its holdings in shares of DURECT by 5.1% in the first quarter. Richmond Brothers Inc. now owns 1,346,406 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,080,000 after purchasing an additional 65,230 shares during the period. Finally, Dalton Investments Inc. boosted its stake in shares of DURECT by 45.4% in the second quarter. Dalton Investments Inc. now owns 745,000 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $473,000 after buying an additional 232,688 shares in the last quarter. 28.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.