Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:PNFP) Shares Sold by HighTower Advisors LLC

HighTower Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:PNFP) by 12.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,973 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,155 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Pinnacle Financial Partners were worth $912,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in Pinnacle Financial Partners during the third quarter valued at approximately $70,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Pinnacle Financial Partners by 48.1% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $84,000 after buying an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Pinnacle Financial Partners by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 808 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $92,000 after buying an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont acquired a new stake in shares of Pinnacle Financial Partners during the 4th quarter valued at $97,000. Finally, Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Pinnacle Financial Partners during the 3rd quarter worth $137,000. 87.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Pinnacle Financial Partners from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $135.00 target price (up from $115.00) on shares of Pinnacle Financial Partners in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $142.00 price target on shares of Pinnacle Financial Partners in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Pinnacle Financial Partners from $123.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Finally, Barclays raised shares of Pinnacle Financial Partners from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $120.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $125.18.

Pinnacle Financial Partners Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PNFP opened at $107.39 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $8.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.96 and a beta of 1.09. Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc. has a 1 year low of $73.62 and a 1 year high of $131.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $114.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $111.99.

Pinnacle Financial Partners (NASDAQ:PNFP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.80 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $475.34 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $470.33 million. Pinnacle Financial Partners had a return on equity of 9.04% and a net margin of 15.48%. The firm’s revenue was up 19.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.68 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc. will post 7.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pinnacle Financial Partners Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.89%. This is an increase from Pinnacle Financial Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Pinnacle Financial Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.05%.

Insider Activity at Pinnacle Financial Partners

In other Pinnacle Financial Partners news, Director David B. Ingram sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.50, for a total transaction of $5,060,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 40,991 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,185,361.50. This represents a 49.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Glenda Baskin Glover sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.55, for a total value of $304,650.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,943 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,009,711.65. This trade represents a 23.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 95,350 shares of company stock valued at $11,421,320. Insiders own 1.46% of the company’s stock.

About Pinnacle Financial Partners

Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as the bank holding company for Pinnacle Bank that provides various banking products and services to individuals, businesses, and professional entities in the United States. The company accepts various deposits, including savings, noninterest-bearing and interest-bearing checking, money market, and certificate of deposit accounts; and provides treasury management services, which includes online wire origination, enhanced ACH origination services, positive pay, zero balance and sweep accounts, automated bill pay services, electronic receivables processing, lockbox processing, and merchant card acceptance services.