Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESPR)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESPR) by 33.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 704,097 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 353,787 shares during the quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc.’s holdings in Esperion Therapeutics were worth $1,887,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ESPR. Bellevue Group AG boosted its holdings in shares of Esperion Therapeutics by 136.5% in the first quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 9,944,064 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $26,650,000 after buying an additional 5,739,800 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Esperion Therapeutics by 71.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,826,546 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $23,655,000 after purchasing an additional 3,688,796 shares in the last quarter. Armistice Capital LLC purchased a new position in Esperion Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,568,000. Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Esperion Therapeutics by 2.7% during the first quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 9,129,647 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $24,467,000 after purchasing an additional 238,544 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC purchased a new position in Esperion Therapeutics during the first quarter valued at approximately $446,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on ESPR. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Esperion Therapeutics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 price target on shares of Esperion Therapeutics in a report on Friday, June 28th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $8.00 price objective on shares of Esperion Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of Esperion Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company 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 three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $8.83.

Esperion Therapeutics Trading Down 0.4 %

Esperion Therapeutics stock opened at $2.31 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $2.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $2.38. 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 quarterly 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 business had revenue of $137.74 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $53.11 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. will post 0.03 EPS for the current year.

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.