Vestcor Inc Makes New $582,000 Investment in Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:PNFP)

Key Points

• Vestcor Inc has acquired 5,486 shares of Pinnacle Financial Partners, valued at approximately $582,000, marking a new investment in the financial services provider.
• Insider trading activity included CFO Harold R. Carpenter purchasing 1,000 shares at an average price of $89.73, increasing his ownership stake to over 105,000 shares.
• Wall Street analysts have given mixed ratings on Pinnacle Financial Partners, with an average target price of $118.30 and a consensus rating of "Hold."

Vestcor Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:PNFP - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 5,486 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $582,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Utah Retirement Systems lifted its holdings in shares of Pinnacle Financial Partners by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 4,090 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $468,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS boosted its position in Pinnacle Financial Partners by 0.6% in the first quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 15,800 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,675,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Cahaba Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in Pinnacle Financial Partners by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Cahaba Wealth Management Inc. now owns 6,625 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $758,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in Pinnacle Financial Partners by 5.7% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,143 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $227,000 after buying an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Pinnacle Financial Partners by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 2,414 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $276,000 after buying an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.40% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on PNFP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Pinnacle Financial Partners from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Pinnacle Financial Partners from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "hold" rating and issued a $110.00 target price (down previously from $145.00) on shares of Pinnacle Financial Partners in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Pinnacle Financial Partners from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Truist Financial reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $127.00 price target (up from $123.00) on shares of Pinnacle Financial Partners in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $118.30.

Pinnacle Financial Partners Price Performance

Shares of Pinnacle Financial Partners stock traded down $1.79 on Thursday, reaching $87.88. The company's stock had a trading volume of 790,294 shares, compared to its average volume of 716,731. The company has a market capitalization of $6.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.66 and a beta of 1.03. Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc. has a 52-week low of $81.57 and a 52-week high of $131.91. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $106.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $107.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Pinnacle Financial Partners (NASDAQ:PNFP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.92 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $504.99 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $495.27 million. Pinnacle Financial Partners had a return on equity of 9.60% and a net margin of 18.69%. The business's revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.63 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc. will post 7.85 EPS for the current year.

Pinnacle Financial Partners Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 1st will be paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 1st. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Pinnacle Financial Partners's payout ratio is currently 12.73%.

Insider Transactions at Pinnacle Financial Partners

In other news, CFO Harold R. Carpenter acquired 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 31st. The shares were bought at an average price of $89.73 per share, for a total transaction of $89,730.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer owned 105,050 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,426,136.50. This trade represents a 0.96% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director G Kennedy Thompson acquired 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The stock was purchased at an average price of $85.65 per share, for a total transaction of $856,500.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 28,372 shares in the company, valued at $2,430,061.80. This represents a 54.43% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought 12,174 shares of company stock valued at $1,047,079 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.46% of the company's stock.

Pinnacle Financial Partners Company 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.