Brokerages Set DURECT Co. (NASDAQ:DRRX) PT at $27.50

Shares of DURECT Co. (NASDAQ:DRRX) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the five research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $27.50.

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. HC Wainwright reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of DURECT in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $5.00 price target on shares of DURECT in a report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of DURECT from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th.

DURECT Stock Up 0.6 %

DRRX stock opened at $0.96 on Friday. DURECT has a 52 week low of $0.47 and a 52 week high of $7.46. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $1.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.79 million, a P/E ratio of -0.79 and a beta of 0.85.

DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 27th. The specialty pharmaceutical company reported ($0.27) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.36) by $0.09. DURECT had a negative net margin of 323.16% and a negative return on equity of 316.78%. The business had revenue of $2.67 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that DURECT will post -1.04 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of DURECT

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. CM Management LLC grew its position in DURECT by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter. CM Management LLC now owns 525,000 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,307,000 after purchasing an additional 55,000 shares during the last quarter. Richmond Brothers Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of DURECT in the 4th quarter valued at $306,000. Ironwood Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of DURECT by 144.6% in the 3rd quarter. Ironwood Investment Management LLC now owns 206,267 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $514,000 after acquiring an additional 121,930 shares during the last quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of DURECT by 111.9% in the 3rd quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 195,020 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $486,000 after acquiring an additional 103,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Accredited Investors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of DURECT in the 3rd quarter valued at $141,000. 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.