Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of DURECT Put Options (NASDAQ:DRRX)

Key Points

• Traders have significantly increased their activity with DURECT, purchasing 5,035 put options, marking a 368% increase in volume compared to typical trading levels.
• Institutional investors are actively adjusting their positions in DURECT, with notable increases from firms like Dalton Investments Inc. and Richmond Brothers Inc. during the second quarter.
• DURECT's stock recently traded at $1.94 with a one-year performance range between $0.48 and $2.64, while its recent earnings report highlighted a small revenue beat against analysts' expectations.

DURECT Corporation (NASDAQ:DRRX - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors purchased 5,035 put options on the company. This is an increase of 368% compared to the average volume of 1,076 put options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jane Street Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of DURECT by 266.0% in the fourth quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 39,196 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 28,486 shares during the last quarter. Beirne Wealth Consulting Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of DURECT by 6.0% in the second quarter. Beirne Wealth Consulting Services LLC now owns 314,150 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company's stock worth $200,000 after purchasing an additional 17,800 shares during the last quarter. Dalton Investments Inc. grew its holdings in shares of DURECT by 109.1% in the first quarter. Dalton Investments Inc. now owns 512,312 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company's stock worth $411,000 after purchasing an additional 267,312 shares during the last quarter. Richmond Brothers Inc. grew its holdings in shares of DURECT by 5.1% in the first quarter. Richmond Brothers Inc. now owns 1,346,406 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company's stock worth $1,080,000 after purchasing an additional 65,230 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ingalls & Snyder LLC boosted its holdings in DURECT by 1.1% in the second quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC now owns 1,349,435 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company's stock valued at $857,000 after acquiring an additional 14,637 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 28.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on DRRX shares. Northland Capmk downgraded shares of DURECT from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Wall Street Zen started coverage on shares of DURECT in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. They issued a "sell" rating on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold".

DURECT Stock Performance

Shares of DRRX stock remained flat at $1.91 during trading hours on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $59.31 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -19.10 and a beta of 0.92. DURECT has a 52 week low of $0.48 and a 52 week high of $2.64. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $1.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $0.96.

DURECT (NASDAQ:DRRX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 12th. The specialty pharmaceutical company reported ($0.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by $0.06. DURECT had a negative net margin of 96.19% and a negative return on equity of 259.16%. The firm had revenue of $0.45 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $0.32 million. As a group, analysts predict that DURECT will post -0.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.