Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESPR) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESPR – Get Rating) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the ten brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has assigned a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $20.67.

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ESPR. Credit Suisse Group lowered shares of Esperion Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $7.00 to $6.00 in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Esperion Therapeutics from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $6.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Esperion Therapeutics from $5.00 to $7.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 15th.

Esperion Therapeutics Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of ESPR opened at $5.77 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $6.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $5.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $363.55 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.83 and a beta of 0.28. Esperion Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $3.28 and a 1-year high of $15.09.

Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ESPR – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 2nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.05) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.95) by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $18.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.62 million. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 53.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($1.67) earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Esperion Therapeutics will post -3.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Joanne M. Foody sold 3,901 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.55, for a total transaction of $25,551.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 109,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $714,454.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 8,905 shares of company stock valued at $50,693. Insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Deep Track Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Esperion Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,208,000. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C bought a new position in shares of Esperion Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000,000. Wasatch Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Esperion Therapeutics by 95.0% in the fourth quarter. Wasatch Advisors Inc. now owns 6,386,263 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $31,931,000 after purchasing an additional 3,111,903 shares during the period. Altium Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Esperion Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $12,579,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Esperion Therapeutics by 19.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,491,530 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $20,841,000 after purchasing an additional 730,091 shares during the period.

Esperion Therapeutics Company Profile

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Esperion Therapeutics, Inc, a pharmaceutical company, develops and commercializes medicines for the treatment of patients with elevated low density lipoprotein cholesterol. Its lead product candidates are NEXLETOL (bempedoic acid) and NEXLIZET (bempedoic acid and ezetimibe) tablets for the treatment of patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease or heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia.