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

Equities research analysts at StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX) in a report released on Thursday. The brokerage set a “sell” rating on the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock.

DURECT Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of DRRX stock opened at $0.80 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.83 million, a P/E ratio of -1.31 and a beta of 0.91. DURECT has a 12-month low of $0.70 and a 12-month high of $1.88. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $0.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $1.00.

DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The specialty pharmaceutical company reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $2.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.91 million. DURECT had a negative net margin of 198.58% and a negative return on equity of 300.62%. As a group, research analysts expect that DURECT will post -0.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On DURECT

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of DRRX. Jane Street Group LLC raised its position in DURECT by 266.0% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. 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 last quarter. Finally, Richmond Brothers Inc. increased its stake in shares of DURECT by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. Richmond Brothers Inc. now owns 1,281,176 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $961,000 after buying an additional 138,920 shares during the period. 28.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.