Sterne Agee Maintains Buy on Pinnacle Financial After 25% Stock Redemption

Sterne Agee has published a research report on Pinnacle Financial Partners (NASDAQ: PNFP) after the company redeemed 25% of its $95 million in preferred stock held by the US Treasury.In the report, Sterne Agee writes, "On December 28th, PNFP redeemed 25% of its $95 million of preferred stock held by the US Treasury—without raising capital. We believe a full exit will be completed by 1Q13E-end. Next week, Pinnacle National Bank (“PNB”) will have the capacity to dividend ~$16-$18 million to PNFP. We believe it is very positive that PNFP redeemed $23.75 million of preferred without using subsidiary dividends. Given that dividends orcapital moves by the parent must have prior approval from the Federal Reserve Bank, and that the PNB is subject higher capital requirements, we believe that the FRB and the OCC were comfortable that PNFP would not need to be a source of strength to PNB. Simply put, the approval to redeem 25% of its TARP preferred is an indirect affirmation that credit quality and profitability trends are improving."Sterne Agee maintains its Buy rating and $17 price target on Pinnacle Financial Partners, which closed yesterday at $16.11.