Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESPR) Short Interest Update

Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESPR) saw a large growth in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 24,890,000 shares, a growth of 13.7% from the May 31st total of 21,890,000 shares. Approximately 16.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 8,420,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.0 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Esperion Therapeutics

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bayesian Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Esperion Therapeutics during the first quarter worth about $137,000. Bellevue Group AG boosted its position in Esperion Therapeutics by 136.5% during the 1st quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 9,944,064 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $26,650,000 after buying an additional 5,739,800 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Esperion Therapeutics by 71.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,826,546 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $23,655,000 after acquiring an additional 3,688,796 shares during the last quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Esperion Therapeutics in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $107,000. Finally, State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System acquired a new position in Esperion Therapeutics in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $50,000. 47.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on ESPR shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Esperion Therapeutics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Bank of America downgraded Esperion Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $2.90 to $2.50 in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $8.00 price target on shares of Esperion Therapeutics in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 price objective on shares of Esperion Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, June 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Esperion Therapeutics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $8.83.

Esperion Therapeutics Trading Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ:ESPR traded up $0.01 on Wednesday, hitting $2.35. The company had a trading volume of 1,900,491 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,570,805. Esperion Therapeutics has a 52 week low of $0.70 and a 52 week high of $3.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $445.23 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.36 and a beta of 1.02. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $2.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $2.41.

Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ESPR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.08) by $0.42. The firm had revenue of $137.74 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $53.11 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Esperion Therapeutics will post -0.05 EPS 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.