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

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $5.00 price objective on shares of DURECT in a report on Monday, April 1st. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of DURECT in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, StockNews.com raised DURECT from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $27.50.

DURECT Stock Up 1.7 %

DRRX stock opened at $0.93 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $1.03 and a 200-day moving average of $1.05. DURECT has a 12-month low of $0.47 and a 12-month 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, beating the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $2.67 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 million. As a group, analysts expect that DURECT will post -1.04 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On DURECT

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Richmond Brothers Inc. purchased a new position in DURECT in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $306,000. Silverberg Bernstein Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in DURECT in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Ironwood Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in DURECT by 144.6% in the third quarter. Ironwood Investment Management LLC now owns 206,267 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $514,000 after purchasing an additional 121,930 shares during the last quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in DURECT by 111.9% in the third quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 195,020 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $486,000 after purchasing an additional 103,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CM Management LLC lifted its stake in DURECT by 11.7% in the third 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. 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.