DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX) Rating Lowered to Sell at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report released on Thursday morning.

Separately, HC Wainwright restated a neutral rating on shares of DURECT in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $21.00.

DURECT Price Performance

NASDAQ:DRRX opened at $1.43 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.39 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.51 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $1.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1.18. DURECT has a 1 year low of $0.47 and a 1 year high of $3.38.

DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 13th. The specialty pharmaceutical company reported ($0.25) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.21) by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $1.83 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.73 million. DURECT had a negative return on equity of 328.25% and a negative net margin of 279.77%. As a group, analysts expect that DURECT will post -0.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in DURECT by 41.3% during the 2nd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 21,550 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 6,300 shares in the last quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of DURECT during the second quarter valued at $113,000. Gagnon Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of DURECT by 6.0% in the first quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC now owns 380,131 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $460,000 after acquiring an additional 21,425 shares in the last quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in DURECT by 10.8% in the first quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 256,220 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $310,000 after acquiring an additional 25,000 shares during the period. Finally, Richmond Brothers Inc. grew its holdings in DURECT by 48.2% during the 1st quarter. Richmond Brothers Inc. now owns 768,344 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $930,000 after acquiring an additional 250,050 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.