Needham & Company LLC Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ESPR) Stock Price

Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ESPR) had its price target lowered by equities research analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $5.00 to $4.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target suggests a potential upside of 346.93% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on ESPR. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $4.00 price objective (down previously from $7.00) on shares of Esperion Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 price target on shares of Esperion Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Esperion Therapeutics from $4.00 to $3.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. One 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Esperion Therapeutics has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $6.25.

Esperion Therapeutics Price Performance

ESPR opened at $0.90 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $177.34 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.40 and a beta of 0.75. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $1.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $1.89. Esperion Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $0.82 and a 1-year high of $3.94.

Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ESPR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.21) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.18) by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $65.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $54.97 million. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Esperion Therapeutics will post -0.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Esperion Therapeutics

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ESPR. Wasatch Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Esperion Therapeutics by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 24,482,258 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $53,861,000 after buying an additional 1,136,245 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its holdings 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 valued at $7,956,000 after acquiring an additional 16,100 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 valued at $6,862,000 after acquiring an additional 1,020,243 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in 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. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Esperion Therapeutics by 45.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,629,980 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,586,000 after purchasing an additional 506,428 shares during the period. 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.