HC Wainwright Reiterates Buy Rating for Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ESPR)

Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ESPR)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by research analysts at HC Wainwright in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $16.00 price objective on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Bank of America lowered 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 note on Thursday, June 20th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Esperion Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered their price objective on Esperion Therapeutics from $8.00 to $6.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $8.17.

Esperion Therapeutics Stock Up 7.7 %

Esperion Therapeutics stock opened at $1.96 on Wednesday. Esperion Therapeutics has a twelve month low of $0.70 and a twelve month high of $3.40. The company has a market capitalization of $371.34 million, a P/E ratio of -1.98 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $1.85 and its 200 day moving average is $2.19.

Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ESPR) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 12th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.05) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.15) by $0.10. The company had revenue of $73.83 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $51.90 million. As a group, equities analysts expect that Esperion Therapeutics will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ESPR. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in Esperion Therapeutics by 105.9% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 77,049 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $127,000 after buying an additional 39,635 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in Esperion Therapeutics by 104.8% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 35,254 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 18,036 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new position in Esperion Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at about $159,000. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C purchased a new position in Esperion Therapeutics in the second quarter worth about $148,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in shares of Esperion Therapeutics by 94.2% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,303,596 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $9,554,000 after purchasing an additional 2,087,635 shares during the period. 47.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.