Preferreds mixed; Ready Capital, New Residential soften; Morgan Stanley series E gains

By Cristal Cody

Tupelo, Miss., July 19 – Preferred stocks headed out ahead of the weekend mixed after opening mostly stronger on Friday.

The Wells Fargo Hybrid and Preferred Securities index finished 0.16% higher after the index opened up 0.45% better. The Wells Fargo index closed on Thursday up by 0.34%.

The U.S. iShares Preferred Stock ETF closed down 1 cent, or 0.03%, to $37.19 after ending the previous day better by 3 cents. The ETF was up by 1 cent in early trading.

Primary action has been quiet this week with only one reported offering.

Ready Capital Corp. on Thursday priced a $50 million offering of $25-par seven-year investment-grade senior notes.

Ready Capital plans to apply to list the notes on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “RCB” for trading within 30 days after issuance.

The company’s existing 6.5% senior notes due April 30, 2021 (NYSE: RCP) fell 21 cents, or 0.81%, on Friday to close at $25.63 on volume of about 4,200 notes. The notes were down 8 cents, or 0.3%, to $25.76 early Friday.

The notes closed Thursday up 11 cents after ending Wednesday 19 cents higher.

In other trading in the real estate sector on Friday, real estate investment trust New Residential Investment Corp.’s new $135 million of 7.5% series A fixed-to-floating rate cumulative redeemable preferred stock softened 1 cent, or 0.04%, to $26.13 on volume of about 317,000 shares.

At the start of the day, the preferreds were down 4 cents.

New Residential Investment priced the preferreds, traded over the counter under the temporary symbol “NRXPP,” on June 25.

Retirement services company Athene Holding Ltd.’s 6.35% series A fixed-to-floating rate perpetual non-cumulative preference shares (NYSE: ATHPrA) finished 2 cents, or 0.08%, better at $26.67. Trading volume averaged 897,000 shares.

The preferreds were up 8 cents in early trading on Friday.

Looking at the finance sector following earnings releases this week, Morgan Stanley’s preferred stocks were mixed as the session closed.

The series A preferreds (NYSE: MSPrA) declined 7 cents, or 0.33%, to $21.35 on Friday on about 86,000 shares traded.

The company’s series E preferreds (NYSE: MSPrE) gained 21 cents, or 0.74%, to close at $28.68 on trading volume of about 52,000 shares.

Bank of America Corp.’s preferreds were mixed on Friday.

The 5.875% series HH non-cumulative preferred shares (NYSE: BACPrK) improved 6 cents, or 0.23%, to finish at $26.45 on volume of about 70,000 shares traded.

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