Citigroup preferreds down as company eyes Saudi expansion; Morgan Stanley leads trading

By James McCandless

San Antonio, May 3 – Steady activity was reported in the preferred market by traders on a mixed day in trading overall.

Citigroup Inc.’s preferreds led in volume as the company expressed interest Wednesday in returning to banking in Saudi Arabia.

Morgan Stanley’s preferreds were up as the latest financial stock to see attention in the preferred space.

Allstate Corp.’s recent issue was trading in high volume after beating earnings estimates on Monday.

Citigroup up

Citigroup’s 7.875% fixed-to-floating rate trust preferred securities were at the top of the preferred market on Thursday. The company announced on Wednesday that it is exploring an expansion of operations into Saudi Arabia.

Traders said on Tuesday that with the recent series of redemption announcements from Bank of America Corp. and General Electric Co, another is expected from Citigroup.

The securities, trading at about twice their normal volume with around 546,000 shares exchanged, fell 9 cents to close at $26.55.

Morgan Stanley up

Morgan Stanley’s series I fixed-to-floating rate non-cumulative preferred stock was up with about 500,000 shares trading hands.

“There are a lot of financial names in the spotlight recently,” a trader said. “With the recent redemption notices, there is always a little run on these names.”

The notes gained 6 cents to close at $26.83.

Allstate loses gains

Allstate’s recent 5.625% series G fixed rate non-cumulative perpetual preferred stock gave back some of the gains made earlier in the week after the company released its first-quarter report.

The company reported a profit of $2.63 per share, beating analyst estimates of $2.57 per share.

The shares lost 6 cents to close at $25.13.

Indexes mixed

The Wells Fargo Hybrid & Preferred Securities Financial index fell 0.12% at the end of trading.

The iShares US Preferred Stock ETF gained 4 cents to close at $36.97.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.