Wasatch Advisors LP Raises Stock Position in Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESPR)

Wasatch Advisors LP grew its holdings in Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESPR) by 2.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,129,647 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 238,544 shares during the period. Wasatch Advisors LP owned approximately 4.82% of Esperion Therapeutics worth $24,467,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Armistice Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Esperion Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at about $9,568,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its position in Esperion Therapeutics by 120.1% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 413,704 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $405,000 after buying an additional 225,767 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Esperion Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at about $77,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP boosted its position in Esperion Therapeutics by 159.1% in the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 1,116,655 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,094,000 after buying an additional 685,733 shares during the period. Finally, Spire Wealth Management boosted its position in Esperion Therapeutics by 69.2% in the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 17,767 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 7,267 shares during the period. 47.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ESPR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America lowered shares of Esperion Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $2.90 to $2.50 in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $8.00 price objective on shares of Esperion Therapeutics in a report on Friday, June 28th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Esperion Therapeutics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 price target on shares of Esperion Therapeutics in a report on Friday, June 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Esperion Therapeutics has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $8.83.

Esperion Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of ESPR stock opened at $2.34 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $2.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $2.41. Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $0.70 and a 1-year high of $3.40.

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

Esperion Therapeutics 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.