Direct Digital Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRCT) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Direct Digital Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRCT - Get Free Report) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 287,800 shares, an increase of 17.5% from the March 15th total of 244,900 shares. Approximately 11.3% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 257,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.1 days.

Institutional Trading of Direct Digital

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of DRCT. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Direct Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. UBS Group AG acquired a new stake in shares of Direct Digital in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $31,000. State Street Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Direct Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Direct Digital by 31.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,555 shares of the company's stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 3,966 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP raised its position in shares of Direct Digital by 146.5% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 28,760 shares of the company's stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 17,095 shares during the period. 4.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Direct Digital Trading Down 3.2 %

Direct Digital stock traded down $0.31 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $9.43. 126,250 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 274,082. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.51, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.16. Direct Digital has a fifty-two week low of $1.96 and a fifty-two week high of $35.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $134.57 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 67.36 and a beta of 7.91. The firm's 50 day moving average is $18.77 and its 200-day moving average is $11.83.

Direct Digital (NASDAQ:DRCT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, March 26th. The company reported ($0.08) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.36). The business had revenue of $41.01 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $66.02 million. Direct Digital had a net margin of 1.26% and a return on equity of 48.38%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.01 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Direct Digital will post 0.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on DRCT shares. Roth Mkm lowered their target price on shares of Direct Digital from $27.50 to $19.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. TheStreet lowered shares of Direct Digital from a "c" rating to a "d+" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Noble Financial reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Direct Digital in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Benchmark decreased their price objective on shares of Direct Digital from $30.00 to $23.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Direct Digital currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $15.83.

Direct Digital Company Profile

Direct Digital Holdings, Inc operates as an end-to-end full-service programmatic advertising platform. The company's platform primarily focuses on providing advertising technology, data-driven campaign optimization, and other solutions to underserved and less efficient markets on both the buy- and sell-side of the digital advertising ecosystem.