Bank of America Corp DE Purchases 506,428 Shares of Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESPR)

Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESPR - Free Report) by 45.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,629,980 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after buying an additional 506,428 shares during the quarter. Bank of America Corp DE owned 0.83% of Esperion Therapeutics worth $3,586,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ESPR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Esperion Therapeutics by 18.6% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,454,216 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $5,399,000 after purchasing an additional 385,099 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Esperion Therapeutics by 602.8% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 173,083 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $381,000 after purchasing an additional 148,456 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Esperion Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $98,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Esperion Therapeutics by 96.6% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 151,482 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $333,000 after buying an additional 74,433 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sigma Planning Corp increased its stake in shares of Esperion Therapeutics by 1,455.8% during the fourth quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 190,441 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $419,000 after buying an additional 178,200 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 47.39% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on ESPR. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on Esperion Therapeutics from $5.00 to $4.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. HC Wainwright restated a "buy" rating and issued a $16.00 price objective on shares of Esperion Therapeutics in a report on Friday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Esperion Therapeutics from $4.00 to $3.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a "market outperform" rating and set a $4.00 price target (down previously from $7.00) on shares of Esperion Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $6.25.

Esperion Therapeutics Trading Up 6.7%

Esperion Therapeutics stock traded up $0.07 on Wednesday, hitting $1.12. 5,481,030 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,449,459. Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $0.69 and a 1 year high of $3.94. The firm has a market cap of $221.98 million, a P/E ratio of -1.75 and a beta of 0.75. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $0.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1.72.

Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ESPR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.21) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $65.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $54.97 million. As a group, analysts predict that Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.29 earnings per share for the current year.

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.