Blue Trust Inc. Reduces Holdings in Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:PNFP)

Blue Trust Inc. trimmed its holdings in Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:PNFP) by 12.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,155 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 160 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Pinnacle Financial Partners were worth $132,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PNFP. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Pinnacle Financial Partners by 17.9% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 186,612 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,282,000 after purchasing an additional 28,327 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in Pinnacle Financial Partners during the third quarter worth about $3,606,000. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in Pinnacle Financial Partners by 1,054.3% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 26,722 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,057,000 after buying an additional 24,407 shares during the period. Artemis Investment Management LLP boosted its stake in Pinnacle Financial Partners by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 482,672 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $55,213,000 after buying an additional 12,455 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Pinnacle Financial Partners by 0.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,328,564 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $130,192,000 after buying an additional 8,604 shares during the period. 87.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Pinnacle Financial Partners Price Performance

Shares of PNFP opened at $114.21 on Friday. Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc. has a 1-year low of $73.62 and a 1-year high of $131.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The stock has a market cap of $8.82 billion, a PE ratio of 19.10 and a beta of 1.09. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $118.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $109.45.

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

Pinnacle Financial Partners Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.84%. This is a boost from Pinnacle Financial Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. Pinnacle Financial Partners’s payout ratio is presently 16.05%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PNFP. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Pinnacle Financial Partners in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $133.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Pinnacle Financial Partners from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and set a $135.00 price target (up from $115.00) on shares of Pinnacle Financial Partners in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $142.00 target price on shares of Pinnacle Financial Partners in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Pinnacle Financial Partners from $140.00 to $138.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $125.18.

Insider Activity at Pinnacle Financial Partners

In other Pinnacle Financial Partners news, Chairman Robert A. Mccabe, Jr. sold 50,000 shares of Pinnacle Financial Partners stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.09, for a total value of $6,204,500.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 123,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,263,070. The trade was a 28.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Harold R. Carpenter sold 3,051 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.57, for a total transaction of $383,114.07. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 60,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,635,283.85. The trade was a 4.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 126,970 shares of company stock worth $15,922,061 in the last 90 days. 1.87% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Pinnacle Financial Partners Profile

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.