StockNews.com Initiates Coverage on DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX)

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX) in a research report released on Saturday morning. The brokerage issued a sell rating on the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock.

Separately, HC Wainwright reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of DURECT in a research note on Thursday, November 14th.

DURECT Stock Up 2.5 %

DURECT stock opened at $0.77 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $0.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $1.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.87 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.26 and a beta of 0.91. DURECT has a 52-week low of $0.70 and a 52-week high of $1.88.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its stake in DURECT by 266.0% during the 4th 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. lifted 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 worth $961,000 after acquiring an additional 138,920 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of DURECT by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 319,905 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $429,000 after acquiring an additional 14,658 shares during the period. 28.03% of the stock is 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.