First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Reduces Position in Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:PNFP)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. trimmed its holdings in Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:PNFP) by 5.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 6,944 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 431 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Pinnacle Financial Partners were worth $794,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PNFP. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Pinnacle Financial Partners in the third quarter valued at $30,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of Pinnacle Financial Partners by 83.4% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 497 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. Values First Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Pinnacle Financial Partners during the 3rd quarter worth about $49,000. Quarry LP raised its position in shares of Pinnacle Financial Partners by 3,500.0% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 756 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 735 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in shares of Pinnacle Financial Partners during the 3rd quarter worth about $70,000. 87.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pinnacle Financial Partners news, CFO Harold R. Carpenter sold 3,051 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.57, for a total transaction of $383,114.07. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 60,805 shares in the company, valued at $7,635,283.85. This represents a 4.78 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman Robert A. Mccabe, Jr. sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.09, for a total transaction of $6,204,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 123,000 shares in the company, valued at $15,263,070. The trade was a 28.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 76,661 shares of company stock worth $9,563,127 in the last ninety days. 1.87% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PNFP has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Pinnacle Financial Partners from $123.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and set a $135.00 price target (up previously from $115.00) on shares of Pinnacle Financial Partners in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays upgraded shares of Pinnacle Financial Partners from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $120.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $142.00 price objective on shares of Pinnacle Financial Partners in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Hovde Group downgraded shares of Pinnacle Financial Partners from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $135.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, November 18th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Pinnacle Financial Partners presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $125.18.

Pinnacle Financial Partners Stock Performance

Pinnacle Financial Partners stock opened at $124.55 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $119.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $105.71. 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 $9.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.83 and a beta of 1.09.

Pinnacle Financial Partners (NASDAQ:PNFP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $475.34 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $470,334.57 billion. Pinnacle Financial Partners had a net margin of 15.48% and a return on equity of 9.04%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 19.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.68 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc. will post 7.56 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This is a positive change from Pinnacle Financial Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.77%. Pinnacle Financial Partners’s dividend payout ratio is 14.72%.

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.