Short Interest in Direct Digital Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRCT) Rises By 17.5%

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

Direct Digital Price Performance

Shares of DRCT opened at $8.30 on Tuesday. Direct Digital has a fifty-two week low of $1.96 and a fifty-two week high of $35.88. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $18.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $11.90. The company has a market cap of $118.44 million, a P/E ratio of 59.29 and a beta of 7.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.51.

Direct Digital (NASDAQ:DRCT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, March 26th. The company reported ($0.08) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.36). Direct Digital had a return on equity of 48.38% and a net margin of 1.26%. The business had revenue of $41.01 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $66.02 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.01 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Direct Digital will post 0.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Direct Digital during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. UBS Group AG acquired a new position in Direct Digital during the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. State Street Corp acquired a new position in Direct Digital during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Direct Digital by 31.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,555 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 3,966 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 17,095 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 4.02% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Noble Financial reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Direct Digital in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Roth Mkm reduced their price target on shares of Direct Digital from $27.50 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. TheStreet downgraded shares of Direct Digital from a “c” rating to a “d+” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Benchmark reduced their price target on shares of Direct Digital from $30.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.