MFA Financial taps $25-par market; AT&T declines; Wells Fargo weaker

By James McCandless

San Antonio, Feb. 25 – On fresh coronavirus concerns, the preferred market saw Monday’s losses compounded on Tuesday.

The primary space saw MFA Financial, Inc. price a $275 million offering of $25-par series C fixed-to-floating rate cumulative redeemable preferred stock with an initial dividend of 6.5% at par.

Secondary trading was led by declines for telecom services company AT&T, Inc.’s 4.75% series C perpetual preferred stock.

Elsewhere, in the finance space, Wells Fargo & Co.’s 4.75% series Z non-cumulative perpetual class A preferred stock weakened.

Sector peer Capital One Financial Corp.’s 4.8% series J fixed-rate non-cumulative perpetual preferreds followed the market trend.

JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s 6% series EE non-cumulative preferred stock finished the afternoon in a worse position.

Meanwhile, REIT AGNC Investment Corp.’s 6.125% series F fixed-to-floating rate cumulative redeemable preferred stock dropped.

MFA prices

The Tuesday primary space saw MFA Financial price a $275 million offering of $25-par series C fixed-to-floating rate cumulative redeemable preferred stock with an initial dividend of 6.5% at par.

There is a $41.25 million greenshoe.

Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, RBC Capital Markets, LLC, UBS Securities LLC, Wells Fargo Securities, LLC and Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc. are the joint bookrunners.

Dividends are payable on the last day of March, June, September and December, starting on June, 30.

The dividend is fixed until March 31, 2025, then converts to a floating rate of Libor plus 534.5 basis points.

AT&T dips

The day’s secondary trading was led by declines for telecom services company AT&T’s 4.75% series C perpetual preferred stock.

The preferreds (NYSE: TPrC) were down 8 cents to close at $24.92 on volume of about 2.3 million shares.

On Monday, the preferreds shaved off 15 cents.

Wells Fargo weaker

Elsewhere, in the finance space, Wells Fargo’s 4.75% series Z non-cumulative perpetual class A preferred stock weakened at the end of the afternoon.

The preferreds (NYSE: WFCPrZ) slid 11 cents to close at $25.26 with about 2.1 million shares trading.

On Monday, the preferreds gave back 13 cents.

Sector peer Capital One’s 4.8% series J fixed-rate non-cumulative perpetual preferreds followed the market trend.

The preferreds (NYSE: COFPrJ) fell 12 cents to close at $24.70 on volume of about 721,000 shares.

On Monday, the preferreds slipped 20 cents.

JPMorgan’s 6% series EE non-cumulative preferred stock finished the afternoon in a worse position.

The preferreds (NYSE: JPMPrC) dived 41 cents to close at $27.13 with about 491,000 shares trading.

On Monday, the preferreds shaved off 20 cents.

AGNC drops

Meanwhile, real estate investment trust AGNC’s 6.125% series F fixed-to-floating rate cumulative redeemable preferred stock dropped.

The preferreds (Nasdaq: AGNCP) was docked 4 cents to close at $24.74 on volume of about 466,000 shares.

Indexes down

The Wells Fargo Hybrid & Preferred Securities Financial index capped the day down by 0.78%, reversing a 0.22% gain from early Tuesday trading.

The iShares US Preferred Stock ETF was down 45 cents to $37.11.

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