Benjamin Looker Sells 6,267 Shares of Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ESPR) Stock

Key Points

• Esperion Therapeutics' General Counsel, Benjamin Looker, sold 6,267 shares of the company's stock for $17,547.60, representing a 1.57% decrease in ownership.
• Shares of Esperion traded up 1.1% to $2.75, with a market cap of approximately $554.46 million and a negative PE ratio of -5.61.
• The company recently reported an earnings per share (EPS) of ($0.02), beating analysts' expectations, and generated $82.39 million in revenue for the quarter.

Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESPR - Get Free Report) General Counsel Benjamin Looker sold 6,267 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.80, for a total transaction of $17,547.60. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 393,670 shares in the company, valued at $1,102,276. This represents a 1.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Benjamin Looker also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, July 17th, Benjamin Looker sold 1,304 shares of Esperion Therapeutics stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.13, for a total transaction of $1,473.52.

Esperion Therapeutics Stock Performance

NASDAQ ESPR traded down $0.15 on Monday, hitting $2.51. The stock had a trading volume of 7,783,821 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,327,483. Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $0.69 and a 52-week high of $3.94. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $2.00 and a 200-day moving average of $1.43.

Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ESPR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.17) by $0.15. The company had revenue of $82.39 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $62.55 million. Esperion Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 35.84% and a negative return on equity of 0.91%. Analysts predict that Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Esperion Therapeutics

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Two Seas Capital LP increased its stake in Esperion Therapeutics by 43.6% in the second quarter. Two Seas Capital LP now owns 9,954,975 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $9,800,000 after purchasing an additional 3,024,104 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in shares of Esperion Therapeutics by 46.2% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 5,312,252 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $5,206,000 after buying an additional 1,679,294 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Esperion Therapeutics by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,583,988 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $4,513,000 after purchasing an additional 137,691 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its position in Esperion Therapeutics by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 3,616,200 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $7,956,000 after purchasing an additional 16,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Esperion Therapeutics by 48.6% in 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 during the last quarter. 47.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ESPR has been the subject of several recent research reports. HC Wainwright restated a "buy" rating and set a $16.00 target price on shares of Esperion Therapeutics in a research report on Friday. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Esperion Therapeutics from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, August 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $7.00.

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.