Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 208,938 Shares of Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:PNFP)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:PNFP) by 27.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 983,282 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 208,938 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Pinnacle Financial Partners were worth $96,332,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PNFP. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Pinnacle Financial Partners by 10.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,094,498 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $247,673,000 after acquiring an additional 292,401 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Pinnacle Financial Partners by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,716,416 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $266,127,000 after purchasing an additional 282,016 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Pinnacle Financial Partners by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,328,564 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $130,192,000 after buying an additional 8,604 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in Pinnacle Financial Partners by 20.5% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,015,033 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $99,443,000 after purchasing an additional 172,750 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Pinnacle Financial Partners by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 920,088 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $90,141,000 after buying an additional 9,856 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.40% of the company’s stock.

Pinnacle Financial Partners Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of PNFP opened at $112.24 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.34 and a beta of 1.08. Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc. has a 52 week low of $73.62 and a 52 week high of $131.91. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $116.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $98.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

Pinnacle Financial Partners (NASDAQ:PNFP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.79 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $810.11 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $454.18 million. Pinnacle Financial Partners had a net margin of 13.97% and a return on equity of 8.89%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.79 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc. will post 6.8 EPS for the current year.

Pinnacle Financial Partners Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st were issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. Pinnacle Financial Partners’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.73%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Harold R. Carpenter sold 3,051 shares of Pinnacle Financial Partners stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.57, for a total transaction of $383,114.07. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 60,805 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,635,283.85. The trade was a 4.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman Robert A. Mccabe, Jr. sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was 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. This represents a 28.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 76,661 shares of company stock valued at $9,563,127 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.87% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on PNFP shares. Hovde Group downgraded Pinnacle Financial Partners from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $135.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Pinnacle Financial Partners from $104.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Pinnacle Financial Partners in a research note on Tuesday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $133.00 price target for the company. Citigroup upped their price objective on Pinnacle Financial Partners from $113.00 to $123.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on Pinnacle Financial Partners from $113.00 to $119.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $118.91.

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.