Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ESPR) Receives "Buy" Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ESPR - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reaffirmed by equities research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $5.00 price objective on the biopharmaceutical company's stock. Needham & Company LLC's price objective would indicate a potential upside of 451.09% from the company's current price.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on ESPR. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $4.00 target price (down from $7.00) on shares of Esperion Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Esperion Therapeutics from $4.00 to $3.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a "buy" rating and set a $16.00 target price on shares of Esperion Therapeutics in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $6.42.

Esperion Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ESPR traded down $0.01 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $0.91. 2,941,718 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,653,101. Esperion Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $0.82 and a 12 month high of $3.94. The company has a market capitalization of $179.78 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.42 and a beta of 0.86. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $1.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1.96.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Esperion Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wasatch Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Esperion Therapeutics by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 24,482,258 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $53,861,000 after acquiring an additional 1,136,245 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Esperion Therapeutics by 4.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,331,314 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $7,148,000 after purchasing an additional 171,609 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Esperion Therapeutics by 2.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,854,314 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $6,360,000 after purchasing an additional 99,802 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its stake in Esperion Therapeutics by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 3,616,200 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $7,956,000 after buying an additional 16,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Esperion Therapeutics by 48.6% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 3,119,253 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $6,862,000 after buying an additional 1,020,243 shares in 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.