Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ESPR) Rating Reiterated by Needham & Company LLC

Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ESPR)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $8.00 price target on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 260.36% from the stock’s current price.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 price objective on shares of Esperion Therapeutics in a report on Friday. StockNews.com lowered shares of Esperion Therapeutics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Bank of America lowered shares of Esperion Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $2.90 to $2.50 in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $8.83.

Esperion Therapeutics Trading Down 3.9 %

ESPR stock opened at $2.22 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $420.60 million, a PE ratio of -2.24 and a beta of 1.00. Esperion Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $0.70 and a 1 year high of $3.40. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $2.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $2.40.

Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ESPR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by $0.42. The firm had revenue of $137.74 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $53.11 million. As a group, analysts forecast that Esperion Therapeutics will post -0.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Esperion Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ESPR. Bellevue Group AG boosted its holdings in Esperion Therapeutics by 136.5% during the first quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 9,944,064 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $26,650,000 after purchasing an additional 5,739,800 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Esperion Therapeutics by 71.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,826,546 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $23,655,000 after acquiring an additional 3,688,796 shares during the last quarter. Armistice Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Esperion Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at $9,568,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP lifted its stake in Esperion Therapeutics by 159.1% in the third quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 1,116,655 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,094,000 after acquiring an additional 685,733 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its stake in Esperion Therapeutics by 2.7% in the first quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 9,129,647 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $24,467,000 after acquiring an additional 238,544 shares during the last quarter. 47.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.