Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ESPR) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by Wall Street Zen

Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ESPR) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Monday.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on ESPR. Needham & Company LLC cut their price target on shares of Esperion Therapeutics from $5.00 to $4.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $16.00 price target on shares of Esperion Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $7.00.

Esperion Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ESPR opened at $2.17 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $437.52 million, a P/E ratio of -4.43 and a beta of 0.82. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $1.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $1.32. Esperion Therapeutics has a 52-week low of $0.69 and a 52-week high of $3.94.

Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ESPR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.17) by $0.15. Esperion Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 35.84% and a negative return on equity of 0.91%. The firm had revenue of $82.39 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $62.55 million. Analysts predict that Esperion Therapeutics will post -0.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Esperion Therapeutics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in Esperion Therapeutics by 7.4% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 72,705 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $72,000 after acquiring an additional 4,979 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its position in Esperion Therapeutics by 33.2% during the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 40,106 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 10,000 shares in the last quarter. Boomfish Wealth Group LLC raised its position in Esperion Therapeutics by 29.5% during the second quarter. Boomfish Wealth Group LLC now owns 45,306 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 10,309 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Esperion Therapeutics by 15.5% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 97,833 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $215,000 after acquiring an additional 13,101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its position in Esperion Therapeutics by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 3,616,200 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $7,956,000 after acquiring an additional 16,100 shares in 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.