Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESPR) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESPR) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $6.25.

Several research analysts have commented on ESPR shares. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 price objective on shares of Esperion Therapeutics in a report on Friday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Esperion Therapeutics from $4.00 to $3.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $4.00 price objective (down from $7.00) on shares of Esperion Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on shares of Esperion Therapeutics from $5.00 to $4.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 7th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Esperion Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth $4,446,000. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its holdings in Esperion Therapeutics by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 24,482,258 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $53,861,000 after purchasing an additional 1,136,245 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Esperion Therapeutics by 48.6% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 3,119,253 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $6,862,000 after buying an additional 1,020,243 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Esperion Therapeutics by 45.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,629,980 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,586,000 after buying an additional 506,428 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Esperion Therapeutics by 18.6% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,454,216 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $5,399,000 after buying an additional 385,099 shares in the last quarter. 47.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Esperion Therapeutics Trading Down 6.1%

NASDAQ ESPR opened at $0.85 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $169.06 million, a PE ratio of -1.33 and a beta of 0.75. Esperion Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $0.69 and a 12 month high of $3.94. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $1.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $1.81.

Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ESPR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.21) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $65.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $54.97 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Esperion Therapeutics will post -0.29 earnings per share for the current year.

About Esperion Therapeutics

Esperion Therapeutics, Inc, a pharmaceutical company, develops and commercializes medicines for the treatment of patients with elevated low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). Its marketed products include NEXLETOL (bempedoic acid) and NEXLIZET (bempedoic acid and ezetimibe) tablets that are oral, once-daily, non-statin medicines for the treatment of primary hyperlipidemia in adults with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia or atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease who require additional lowering of LDL-C.