Sage Investment Counsel LLC Purchases New Shares in Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:PNFP)

Sage Investment Counsel LLC bought a new stake in shares of Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:PNFP - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 75,799 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $8,671,000. Pinnacle Financial Partners accounts for about 11.3% of Sage Investment Counsel LLC's portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Sage Investment Counsel LLC owned about 0.10% of Pinnacle Financial Partners as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Pinnacle Financial Partners by 17.9% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 186,612 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $18,282,000 after purchasing an additional 28,327 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in Pinnacle Financial Partners in the 3rd quarter worth about $3,606,000. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in Pinnacle Financial Partners by 1,054.3% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 26,722 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,057,000 after buying an additional 24,407 shares in the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP increased its position in shares of 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 valued at $55,213,000 after buying an additional 12,455 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Pinnacle Financial Partners by 0.7% in 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.40% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on PNFP. Stephens reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $142.00 price objective on shares of Pinnacle Financial Partners in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. UBS Group initiated 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 target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Pinnacle Financial Partners from $140.00 to $138.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Hovde Group lowered Pinnacle Financial Partners from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and set a $135.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Barclays upgraded Pinnacle Financial Partners from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $120.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. 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.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $125.18.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Robert A. Mccabe, Jr. sold 40,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.81, for a total transaction of $4,552,400.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 83,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,446,230. This trade represents a 32.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director David B. Ingram sold 3,610 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.07, for a total value of $455,112.70. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 139,489 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $17,585,378.23. This trade represents a 2.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 166,970 shares of company stock worth $20,474,461 in the last 90 days. 1.87% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Pinnacle Financial Partners Price Performance

Shares of PNFP traded down $2.58 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $111.68. The stock had a trading volume of 355,064 shares, compared to its average volume of 462,849. 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 company has a market capitalization of $8.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.68 and a beta of 1.09. The company's 50-day moving average is $118.49 and its 200 day moving average is $111.06. Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc. has a 12-month low of $73.62 and a 12-month high of $131.91.

Pinnacle Financial Partners (NASDAQ:PNFP - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Pinnacle Financial Partners's revenue for the quarter was up 19.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.68 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc. will post 7.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pinnacle Financial Partners Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. This is a positive change from Pinnacle Financial Partners's previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Pinnacle Financial Partners's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.05%.

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.