Esperion Therapeutics’ (ESPR) “Market Outperform” Rating Reiterated at JMP Securities

Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ESPR)‘s stock had its “market outperform” rating reaffirmed by JMP Securities in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $7.00 target price on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. JMP Securities’ target price would indicate a potential upside of 229.41% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Esperion Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on Esperion Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $8.00 price objective for the company. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $16.00 price objective on shares of Esperion Therapeutics in a report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $6.00 price objective on shares of Esperion Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Esperion Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $4.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Esperion Therapeutics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $7.25.

Esperion Therapeutics Stock Down 3.4 %

ESPR traded down $0.08 on Thursday, reaching $2.13. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 484,777 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,795,007. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $2.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $2.18. The company has a market capitalization of $418.71 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.34 and a beta of 1.03. Esperion Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $1.58 and a fifty-two week high of $3.94.

Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ESPR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.15) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.14) by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $51.63 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.44 million. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.37) earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Esperion Therapeutics will post -0.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Esperion Therapeutics

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ESPR. Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Esperion Therapeutics by 38.4% in the third quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 23,346,013 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $38,521,000 after acquiring an additional 6,483,070 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in Esperion Therapeutics by 94.2% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,303,596 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $9,554,000 after buying an additional 2,087,635 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in Esperion Therapeutics during the third quarter worth about $606,000. Anson Funds Management LP acquired a new stake in Esperion Therapeutics during the third quarter worth about $540,000. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its stake in Esperion Therapeutics by 71.0% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 711,278 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,174,000 after acquiring an additional 295,378 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.39% of the company’s stock.

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.