Preferred stocks gain strength; Tsakos gets temporary ticker; Southern California active

By Stephanie N. Rotondo

Seattle, March 30 – Preferred stocks remained firm as the end of the month neared.

The Wells Fargo Hybrid and Preferred Securities index added 19 basis points on Thursday. The U.S. iShares Preferred Stock ETF was up 16 bps.

The preferred space was following along with the broader markets, which got a bump on the latest GDP report. The report showed that GDP increased by 2.1% in the fourth quarter of 2016, better than the 2% growth expected by economists.

In the week’s new issues, Tsakos Energy Navigation Ltd.’s new $100 million of 9.25% series E fixed-to-floating rate cumulative redeemable preferreds were seen at closing at $24.90, which compared to $24.85 at the open.

The issue was quoted at $24.78 bid, $24.85 offered in early dealings.

A market source reported that the deal – priced late Wednesday and upsized from $50 million – was already assigned a temporary ticker, “TNPEP.”

Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, UBS Securities LLC, Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and Stifel Nicolaus & Co. Inc. were the bookrunners.

Among listed issues, Southern California Edison’s 5.45% fixed-to-floating rate cumulative trust preference securities (NYSE: SCEPrK) were quite active, trading up 7 cents to $27.10.

However, there was no fresh news to cause the movement. One source opined the volume – over 1.55 million shares – might be due to quarter-end positioning.

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