Goldman Sachs prices tighter than talk; Armour REIT sells preferreds; Wells Fargo, MetLife up

By Cristal Cody

Tupelo, Miss., Jan. 23 – Goldman Sachs Group Inc. priced $350 million of registered perpetual preferred stock with a 4.4% dividend on Thursday, more than 20 basis points tighter than guidance.

Demand was strong with a final order book of $2.25 billion.

Also on Thursday, Armour Residential REIT, Inc. sold $75 million of perpetual cumulative redeemable preferred stock.

In secondary trading, Wells Fargo & Co.’s new 4.75% series Z non-cumulative perpetual class A preferred stock (Baa2/BBB-/BBB-) gained 8 cents, or 0.32%, on the day.

Wells Fargo’s preferreds, traded under the temporary symbol “WFCZL,” were quoted ending the session at $25.23 on volume of about 3.6 million shares.

Wells Fargo sold $1.75 billion of the $25-par preferreds on Jan. 15.

In other new issue trading, MetLife Inc.’s 4.75% series F preferreds (Baa2/BBB/BBB) edged up 5 cents, or 0.2%, to $25.61 on volume of about 1.3 billion shares on Thursday.

MetLife sold $1 billion of the $25-par perpetual preferreds (NYSE: METPrF) at par on Jan. 7.

Triton International Ltd.’s new 6.875% series D cumulative redeemable perpetual preference shares (/B+/) softened a second day.

The preferreds, traded under the temporary symbol “TRTDP,” fell 9 cents, or 0.35%, to $25.40 on trading volume of about 209,000 shares after declining 9 cents in the previous session.

The Bermuda-based shipping container leasing company sold $150 million, or 6 million shares, of the $25-par preference stock on Jan. 16.

Triton plans to list the preferreds on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “TRTNPrD.”

Indexes mixed

In the broader markets, preferred stocks opened the session modestly softer and headed out mixed.

The Wells Fargo Hybrid and Preferred Securities index closed off 0.10%, modestly better from the 0.12% decline seen over the morning.

The U.S. iShares Preferred Stock ETF was down 1 cent or 0.04%, by mid-morning and recovered to close the day unchanged at $38.05.

Goldman Sachs raises $350 million

Goldman Sachs Group priced $350 million of series S perpetual fixed-rate reset non-cumulative preferred stock (Ba1/BB/BB+) with a 4.4% dividend in the offering on Thursday, according to a market source.

Price guidance was in the 4.625% to 4.75% area.

The company sold $1,000-par depositary shares in the offering with each depositary share representing 1/25th of an interest in a share of the series S preferred stock.

Dividends will accrue from the issue date to but excluding Feb. 10, 2025 and will be reset to a rate of Treasuries plus 285 bps thereafter.

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC was the bookrunner.

Goldman Sachs Group is a New York-based banking, securities and investment management company.

Armour sells $75 million

Armour Residential REIT priced $75 million of $25-par series C perpetual cumulative redeemable preferred stock with a 7% dividend in its deal, according to an FWP filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

B. Riley FBR, Inc., Janney Montgomery Scott LLC, Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Inc. and William Blair & Co., LLC were the bookrunners.

Armour has applied to list the preferred stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “ARRPrC.”

Armour Residential REIT is a Vero Beach, Fla.-based real estate investor in mostly residential mortgage-backed securities issued or guaranteed by U.S. government-sponsored enterprises.

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