Bleakley Financial Group LLC Cuts Stake in Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESPR)

Bleakley Financial Group LLC trimmed its position in Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESPR) by 20.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 24,398 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 6,104 shares during the quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Esperion Therapeutics were worth $73,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Esperion Therapeutics by 30.0% in the second quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,669 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 2,003 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Esperion Therapeutics in the first quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Amalgamated Bank boosted its position in shares of Esperion Therapeutics by 18.6% during the fourth quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 12,490 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $78,000 after buying an additional 1,960 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Esperion Therapeutics during the first quarter worth approximately $65,000. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP bought a new stake in Esperion Therapeutics during the third quarter worth approximately $98,000. 47.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 target price on shares of Esperion Therapeutics in a report on Monday, March 25th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Esperion Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $8.00 price target on shares of Esperion Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Esperion Therapeutics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $9.33.

Esperion Therapeutics Stock Performance

NASDAQ ESPR opened at $1.91 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $2.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1.94. Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $0.70 and a twelve month high of $3.40. The stock has a market cap of $361.75 million, a PE ratio of -0.90 and a beta of 0.84.

Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ESPR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.50) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.53) by $0.03. The company had revenue of $32.25 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.84 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.76) EPS. Research analysts forecast that Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.