DURECT Co. (NASDAQ:DRRX) Short Interest Down 6.9% in January

DURECT Co. (NASDAQ:DRRX) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 809,100 shares, a drop of 6.9% from the January 15th total of 868,800 shares. Approximately 2.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 103,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 7.8 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on DRRX shares. StockNews.com began coverage on DURECT in a research report on Saturday. They set a “sell” rating for the company. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of DURECT in a research report on Thursday, November 14th.

DURECT Stock Performance

NASDAQ DRRX opened at $0.77 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $0.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1.12. DURECT has a 1 year low of $0.70 and a 1 year high of $1.88.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On DURECT

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRRX. Geode Capital Management LLC increased 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 valued at $429,000 after purchasing an additional 14,658 shares during the last quarter. Richmond Brothers Inc. lifted its position in shares of DURECT by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Richmond Brothers Inc. now owns 1,281,176 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $961,000 after buying an additional 138,920 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC boosted its stake in DURECT by 266.0% in the fourth quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 39,196 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 28,486 shares in the last quarter. 28.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.