Principal Financial Group Inc. Reduces Holdings in Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESPR)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESPR) by 29.9% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 20,430 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 8,721 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Esperion Therapeutics were worth $45,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bellevue Group AG increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 5,739,800 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Esperion Therapeutics by 71.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,826,546 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $23,655,000 after acquiring an additional 3,688,796 shares during the period. Armistice Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Esperion Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at about $9,568,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Esperion Therapeutics by 3,278.3% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 572,323 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,271,000 after purchasing an additional 555,382 shares during the period. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Esperion Therapeutics by 2.7% in the first quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 9,129,647 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $24,467,000 after purchasing an additional 238,544 shares during the last quarter. 47.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Esperion Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ESPR opened at $1.76 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $333.45 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.78 and a beta of 1.00. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $2.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $2.24. Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $0.70 and a 12 month high of $3.40.

Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ESPR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 12th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.05) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.15) by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $73.83 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $51.90 million. Analysts anticipate that Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ESPR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on Esperion Therapeutics from $8.00 to $6.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $16.00 price objective on shares of Esperion Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, August 12th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Esperion Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded Esperion Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price target for the stock 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 issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $8.17.

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.