Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ESPR) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESPR)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $3.34, but opened at $3.49. Esperion Therapeutics shares last traded at $3.54, with a volume of 1,088,653 shares traded.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on ESPR shares. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 price target on shares of Esperion Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com cut shares of Esperion Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on Esperion Therapeutics from $8.00 to $6.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 13th.

Esperion Therapeutics Trading Up 3.3 %

The company has a market capitalization of $679.79 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.53 and a beta of 1.01. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $2.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $2.19.

Institutional Trading of Esperion Therapeutics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Esperion Therapeutics by 71.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,826,546 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $23,655,000 after purchasing an additional 3,688,796 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Esperion Therapeutics by 71.0% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 711,278 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,174,000 after buying an additional 295,378 shares during the period. Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Esperion Therapeutics by 38.4% in the third quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 23,346,013 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $38,521,000 after acquiring an additional 6,483,070 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in Esperion Therapeutics by 94.2% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,303,596 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $9,554,000 after purchasing an additional 2,087,635 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Esperion Therapeutics by 3,278.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 572,323 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,271,000 after purchasing an additional 555,382 shares during the period. 47.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.