Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESPR) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Esperion Therapeutics has received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from six brokerages, with four analysts suggesting a buy, one recommending a hold, and one a sell.
• The stock opened at $2.72, up 7.5%, with an average target price of $7.00 among analysts over the next year.
• Recent quarterly earnings exceeded expectations, with a reported revenue of $82.39 million, compared to analyst projections of $62.55 million.

Shares of Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESPR - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the six brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has given a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $7.00.

Several brokerages have recently commented on ESPR. Wall Street Zen raised Esperion Therapeutics from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. HC Wainwright reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $16.00 price objective on shares of Esperion Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Esperion Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th.

Esperion Therapeutics Stock Up 7.5%

Shares of Esperion Therapeutics stock opened at $2.72 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $548.41 million, a PE ratio of -5.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 136.39 and a beta of 0.96. Esperion Therapeutics has a 52 week low of $0.69 and a 52 week high of $3.94. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $2.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $1.55.

Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ESPR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.17) by $0.15. The company had revenue of $82.39 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $62.55 million. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Esperion Therapeutics will post -0.29 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Esperion Therapeutics

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Esperion Therapeutics by 161.1% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 255,480 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $368,000 after acquiring an additional 157,647 shares during the period. Graham Capital Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Esperion Therapeutics by 153.5% during the first quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P. now owns 487,735 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $702,000 after acquiring an additional 295,320 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Esperion Therapeutics by 1,174.2% during the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 127,424 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $125,000 after acquiring an additional 117,424 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Esperion Therapeutics during the first quarter worth $4,446,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Esperion Therapeutics by 36.0% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 761,980 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $1,097,000 after acquiring an additional 201,704 shares during the period. 47.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Esperion Therapeutics Company Profile

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.

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