Pinnacle Financial Partners (NASDAQ:PNFP) used its fourth-quarter 2025 earnings call to discuss results for legacy Pinnacle and legacy Synovus and to outline expectations for the first year of the combined company following the merger’s completion on Jan. 1.
Merger close and early integration priorities
CEO Kevin Blair said the Pinnacle-Synovus merger closed “just 160 days after announcement,” and management emphasized the pace of integration milestones achieved in recent quarters. Blair said the combined organization has already begun executing the Pinnacle operating model, including bringing legacy Synovus team members into Pinnacle’s Monday morning sales and service meeting series led by Chief Banking Officer Rob McCabe.
Legacy fourth-quarter performance: Pinnacle and Synovus
CFO Jamie Gregory reviewed standalone fourth-quarter 2025 results for both legacy franchises, noting both performed strongly “even in the midst of a merger integration.”
Legacy Pinnacle reported:
- Adjusted EPS of $2.24, flat sequentially and up 18% year over year.
- Net interest income up 3% from the third quarter and up 12% year over year.
- Period-end loans up 3% quarter over quarter and up 10% year over year, which management attributed to recruiting, especially in expansion markets.
- Core deposits up 3% quarter over quarter and up 10% year over year.
- Net interest margin of 3.27%, up 1 basis point sequentially.
- Adjusted non-interest revenue down 6% sequentially but up 25% year over year, driven largely by higher service charges, wealth management revenue and income from BHG; BHG contributed $31 million in fee revenue.
- Adjusted non-interest expense flat sequentially and up 13% year over year.
- Net charge-offs of $27 million, or 28 basis points, with 63% tied to a single non-owner-occupied commercial real estate loan.
- CET1 ratio of 10.88% at quarter-end.
Legacy Synovus reported:
- Adjusted diluted EPS of $1.45, flat sequentially and up 16% year over year.
- Net interest income up 2% quarter over quarter and up 7% year over year.
- Period-end loan growth of $872 million (up 2% sequentially and up 5% year over year), driven by broad-based CNI lending.
- Core deposits up $895 million, or 2% sequentially.
- Net interest margin up 4 basis points sequentially to 3.45%, supported by fixed-rate asset repricing and funding cost benefits from core deposit growth.
- Adjusted non-interest revenue of $144 million, up 6% sequentially and up 16% year over year; capital markets fees were $16 million, up 30% year over year.
- Adjusted non-interest expense up 2% sequentially and up 5% year over year, reflecting higher incentive payments and charitable donations.
- Net charge-offs of $24 million, or 22 basis points.
- CET1 ratio of 11.28%, which Gregory described as an all-time high as the company prepared for the merger closing.
Gregory also said the companies hired 41 new revenue producers in the fourth quarter, bringing the combined total to 217 for 2025.
Balance sheet actions, capital, and purchase accounting
Gregory said the team is finalizing valuation marks on the Synovus book, which it expects to complete later in the first quarter. He said the estimated marks are “generally in line with the original merger expectations,” and that the company expects a CET1 ratio of approximately 10% at the end of the first quarter. That estimate includes $225 million to $250 million of first-quarter merger-related expense and excludes legacy Pinnacle equity acceleration costs, which he said are capital neutral.
Since closing, management said it has repositioned the legacy Synovus securities portfolio, selling approximately $4.4 billion and purchasing roughly $4.4 billion of new securities with an average yield of 4.7% and an estimated duration of 4.25 years. Gregory said the transactions supported the Level 1 HQLA position, reduced risk-weighted assets and eliminated about 98% of the purchase accounting accretion (PAA) associated with the securities portfolio.
On share repurchases, Gregory said the board authorized a $400 million buyback program, but he told investors not to expect repurchases in the first quarter and said it was unlikely in the second quarter as the company focuses on capital accretion. He added that management does not want to “screen the lowest of a peer group” on headline capital ratios.
2026 outlook: growth, margin, expenses, and credit
Blair and Gregory provided targets for 2026, the first full year of the combined company. Blair said the bank’s revenue-producer hiring model is intended to make growth “more resilient and sustainable” across cycles, and he set a goal of 250 total revenue producers hired in 2026.
Management’s 2026 expectations included:
- Period-end loans of $91 billion to $93 billion, up 9% to 11% versus combined loans at year-end 2025. Blair said 35% of growth is expected from financial advisors hired in the past three years, 35% from specialty verticals and the remainder from legacy market growth.
- Total deposits of $106.5 billion to $108.5 billion, up 8% to 10%.
- Adjusted revenue of $5.0 billion to $5.2 billion.
- Net interest margin estimated in the “345 to 355” range, reflecting purchase accounting marks and fixed-rate asset repricing, offset partly by higher liquidity and headwinds from two 25-basis-point rate cuts implied by market expectations.
- Adjusted non-interest revenue of about $1.1 billion, including approximately $125 million to $135 million in BHG investment income, with growth expected from areas such as treasury management, capital markets and wealth management.
- Adjusted non-interest expense of about $2.7 billion to $2.8 billion, including 40% (about $100 million) of annualized merger expense savings realized in 2026.
- Merger-related and LFI expense: excluding legacy Pinnacle equity acceleration cost, management expects $450 million to $500 million of the $720 million in non-recurring merger-related and large financial institution expense to be incurred in 2026, versus $64 million recognized in 2025.
- Credit: net charge-offs expected at 20 to 25 basis points for the year, which management said is consistent with 2025 performance for the combined company.
- Capital and shareholder returns: CET1 target of 10.25% to 10.75% and a quarterly common dividend of $0.50 per share beginning in the first quarter; management said its capital deployment priority remains client loan growth.
- Tax rate expected at about 20% to 21%.
During Q&A, Blair said the company’s loan growth confidence is supported by existing teams, recent hires still consolidating their portfolios, and specialty businesses. Management also discussed “higher hold limits” enabled by the larger balance sheet, saying the increase is not a major step-change but provides incremental capacity to retain slightly larger portions of client credits while continuing to syndicate larger loans.
Chairman Terry Turner focused closing remarks on the firm’s culture, service model and incentives, citing an 84% net promoter score per Greenwich and describing employee engagement practices such as broad-based equity grants. Turner also said Fortune ranked the company as the third best financial services firm to work for in the country, behind only American Express and Synchrony.
About Pinnacle Financial Partners (NASDAQ:PNFP)
Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc (NASDAQ: PNFP) is a financial services company headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, that provides banking, wealth management and insurance solutions to business and consumer clients. The company operates through two primary segments—Banking and Wealth Management & Advisory—offering a comprehensive suite of products that includes commercial and consumer lending, deposit services, treasury management, trust and investment advisory, and insurance brokerage. Pinnacle’s client-focused model emphasizes relationship-based banking, leveraging local decision-making authority and specialized industry expertise to serve diverse sectors such as healthcare, technology, real estate and professional services.
In its banking segment, Pinnacle delivers commercial and consumer loans, lines of credit, equipment financing, and mortgage lending.
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