Woodline Partners LP Decreases Stock Holdings in Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESPR)

Woodline Partners LP trimmed its holdings in shares of Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESPR - Free Report) by 33.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,503,746 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after selling 740,614 shares during the quarter. Woodline Partners LP owned approximately 0.76% of Esperion Therapeutics worth $3,308,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Summit Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Esperion Therapeutics by 18.2% in the fourth quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 46,528 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $102,000 after purchasing an additional 7,150 shares during the period. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Esperion Therapeutics by 48.6% in the fourth quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 30,172 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 9,872 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Esperion Therapeutics by 15.5% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 97,833 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $215,000 after purchasing an additional 13,101 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its position in shares of Esperion Therapeutics by 0.4% in the fourth 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 during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Esperion Therapeutics by 15.3% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 123,896 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $273,000 after purchasing an additional 16,404 shares during the period. 47.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Esperion Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of ESPR stock traded down $0.00 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $0.87. The company had a trading volume of 656,338 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,450,671. Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $0.69 and a 52-week high of $3.94. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $1.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $1.75. The company has a market capitalization of $171.84 million, a P/E ratio of -1.35 and a beta of 0.75.

Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ESPR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.21) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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. On average, equities research analysts expect that Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Esperion Therapeutics 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.