Preferred stocks mixed as equities decline; financials flat to softer; MetLife, AT&T improve

By Cristal Cody

Tupelo, Miss., Oct. 30 – Preferred stocks ended Friday mixed with equities down over the session.

The U.S. iShares Preferred Stock ETF fell 1 cent, or 0.03% to $36.22.

The Wells Fargo Hybrid and Preferred Securities index improved 10.02, or 0.41%, to 2,475.27.

Stocks recovered slightly after opening softer on Friday.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended the session off 0.59%, the S&P 500 closed down 1.21% and the Nasdaq fell 2.45%.

At the start of the day, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 1.62%, the S&P 500 had lost 1.85% and the Nasdaq had dropped 2.7%.

The primary market was quiet as the week closed with no reported issues.

Financials mixed

Bank of New York Mellon Corp.’s $582.5 million of 3.7% series H $1,000-par noncumulative perpetual preferred shares (Baa1/BBB/BBB+) that priced Monday headed out on Friday wider at 344 basis points bid, 339 bps offered, a source said.

The preferreds priced tighter than talk in the 3.875% area.

The dividend on the preferreds will reset March 20, 2026 to a rate of Treasuries plus 335.2 bps.

Bank of New York Mellon sold 582,000 depositary shares, which each represent 1/100th interest in a share of the series H preferred stock.

Bank of America Corp.’s $1.1 billion of 4.375% 25-par perpetual non-cumulative preferreds (Baa3/BBB-/BBB) that priced on Tuesday closed Friday flat at $25.00 bid, a source said.

Trading volume included about 544,000 shares traded.

The preferreds are temporarily trading under the symbol “BACPL.”

Bank of America plans to apply to list the depositary shares representing the series NN preferreds on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “BACPrO.”

Fulton Financial Corp.’s 5.125% series A fixed-rate non-cumulative perpetual preferred stock fell 5 cents, or 0.2%, to close Friday at $25.05 on trading volume of about 391,000 shares.

The preferreds started trading Thursday on the Nasdaq under the symbol “FULPP.”

Fulton Financial sold $200 million of the $25-par preferreds on Oct. 22.

MetLife gains

In other preferred stock trading, insurance provider MetLife Inc.’s 4.75% series F non-cumulative preferred stock gained 15 cents, or 0.57%, to $26.26 over the session on about 170,000 shares traded.

The preferreds (NYSE: METPrF) softened a nickel on Thursday.

Public Storage dips

Elsewhere, Public Storage’s 3.875% series N cumulative preferred shares (NYSE: PSAPrN) shed 9 cents, or 0.36%, to head out at $24.96 on about 1.22 million shares traded.

The preferreds closed Thursday up 8 cents.

AT&T improves

Looking at the telecom space, AT&T Inc.’s 4.75% series C perpetual preferred stock improved 17 cents, or 0.68%, to close the day at $25.29 on about 306,000 shares traded.

The preferreds (NYSE: TPrC) had gained 4 cents on Thursday.

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