DURECT Co. (NASDAQ:DRRX) Short Interest Down 10.0% in April

DURECT Co. (NASDAQ:DRRX) was the target of a large drop in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 927,500 shares, a drop of 10.0% from the March 31st total of 1,030,000 shares. Currently, 3.2% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 169,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.5 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DRRX has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com raised DURECT from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. HC Wainwright reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of DURECT in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $5.00 price target on shares of DURECT in a report on Monday, April 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.50.

DURECT Stock Performance

DURECT stock opened at $0.93 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $1.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $1.05. DURECT has a one year low of $0.47 and a one year high of $7.46.

DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 27th. The specialty pharmaceutical company reported ($0.27) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.36) by $0.09. DURECT had a negative return on equity of 316.78% and a negative net margin of 323.16%. The firm had revenue of $2.67 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that DURECT will post -1.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On DURECT

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRRX. Black Diamond Financial LLC bought a new position in DURECT during the 3rd quarter worth $52,000. Jump Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of DURECT in the 3rd quarter valued at $64,000. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of DURECT by 3,366.7% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 41,600 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $102,000 after purchasing an additional 40,400 shares during the last quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. bought a new position in shares of DURECT in the 3rd quarter valued at $141,000. Finally, CM Management LLC increased its stake in shares of DURECT by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter. CM Management LLC now owns 525,000 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,307,000 after purchasing an additional 55,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.