HC Wainwright Equities Analysts Reduce Earnings Estimates for DURECT Co. (NASDAQ:DRRX)

DURECT Co. (NASDAQ:DRRX) – Investment analysts at HC Wainwright dropped their Q3 2024 earnings per share estimates for shares of DURECT in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, August 14th. HC Wainwright analyst E. Arce now forecasts that the specialty pharmaceutical company will post earnings of ($0.29) per share for the quarter, down from their prior forecast of ($0.24). HC Wainwright currently has a “Neutral” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for DURECT’s current full-year earnings is ($0.85) per share. HC Wainwright also issued estimates for DURECT’s Q4 2024 earnings at ($0.41) EPS, FY2024 earnings at ($1.07) EPS, FY2025 earnings at ($1.32) EPS and FY2026 earnings at ($1.17) EPS.

Separately, StockNews.com lowered shares of DURECT from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.00.

DURECT Stock Performance

Shares of DRRX opened at $1.12 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $34.76 million, a P/E ratio of -1.18 and a beta of 1.03. DURECT has a fifty-two week low of $0.47 and a fifty-two week high of $3.36. The business has a 50-day moving average of $1.45 and a 200 day moving average of $1.19.

DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 13th. The specialty pharmaceutical company reported ($0.12) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.17) by $0.05. DURECT had a negative net margin of 279.77% and a negative return on equity of 328.25%. The company had revenue of $2.17 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.49 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.46) earnings per share.

Institutional Trading of DURECT

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of DURECT by 41.3% in the 2nd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 21,550 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 6,300 shares in the last quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC lifted its stake in DURECT by 6.0% in the first quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC now owns 380,131 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $460,000 after purchasing an additional 21,425 shares during the last quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in DURECT by 10.8% during the first quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 256,220 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $310,000 after buying an additional 25,000 shares during the period. Accredited Investors Inc. purchased a new stake in DURECT during the 2nd quarter valued at about $113,000. Finally, Richmond Brothers Inc. grew its position in DURECT by 48.2% during the 1st quarter. Richmond Brothers Inc. now owns 768,344 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $930,000 after acquiring an additional 250,050 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.