Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ESPR) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ESPR) was upgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Tuesday.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Bank of America cut shares of Esperion Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $2.90 to $2.50 in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on shares of Esperion Therapeutics from $8.00 to $6.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $16.00 target price on shares of Esperion Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $8.17.

Esperion Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of Esperion Therapeutics stock opened at $2.12 on Tuesday. Esperion Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $0.71 and a 1 year high of $3.40. The company has a market capitalization of $401.66 million, a P/E ratio of -2.14 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $1.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $2.17.

Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ESPR) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 12th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.05) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.15) by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $73.83 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $51.90 million. As a group, research analysts expect that Esperion Therapeutics will post -0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Esperion Therapeutics

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bellevue Group AG grew its stake in shares of Esperion Therapeutics by 136.5% during the 1st quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 9,944,064 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $26,650,000 after buying an additional 5,739,800 shares during the period. Wasatch Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Esperion Therapeutics by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 9,129,647 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $24,467,000 after buying an additional 238,544 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Esperion Therapeutics by 71.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,826,546 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $23,655,000 after buying an additional 3,688,796 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in shares of Esperion Therapeutics by 94.2% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,303,596 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $9,554,000 after buying an additional 2,087,635 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Esperion Therapeutics by 3,278.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 572,323 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,271,000 after acquiring an additional 555,382 shares in the last quarter. 47.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Esperion Therapeutics Company Profile

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.