Wells Fargo taps $25-par market; Ally Financial pushed higher; MetLife preferreds decline

By James McCandless

San Antonio, Jan. 15 – Wednesday’s preferred stock session saw a broad reversal of the previous day’s positivity.

The primary market saw Wells Fargo & Co. price a $1.75 billion offering of $25-par series Z non-cumulative perpetual class A preferred stock with a dividend of 4.75%.

In the top spot in the secondary, Ally Financial Inc.’s 8.125% series 2 fixed-to-floating rate trust preferred securities were pushed higher.

Elsewhere in the finance space, Capital One Financial Corp.’s 5% series I fixed-rate non-cumulative perpetual preferred stock declined.

Insurance provider MetLife, Inc.’s recent 4.75% series F non-cumulative preferreds saw weakness by the close.

Telecom giant AT&T Inc.’s 5% series A perpetual preferred stock dived to lower levels.

REIT American Finance Trust, Inc.’s 7.5% series A cumulative redeemable perpetual preferred stock slipped.

Wells Fargo prices

The Wednesday primary market saw Wells Fargo price a $1.75 billion offering of $25-par series Z non-cumulative perpetual class A preferred stock with a dividend of 4.75%.

There is a $262.5 million greenshoe.

The deal was announced on Wednesday morning.

Wells Fargo Securities, LLC is the bookrunner.

Joint lead managers are BofA Securities, Inc., J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, RBC Capital Markets, LLC, UBS Securities LLC, Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and TD Securities (USA) LLC.

The preferreds are redeemable on or after March 15, 2025 at par. Prior to that, the preferreds are redeemable after a regulatory capital treatment event at par.

Ally Financial higher

In the top spot in secondary trading, Ally Financial’s 8.125% series 2 fixed-to-floating rate trust preferred securities were pushed higher at the end of the afternoon.

The preferreds (NYSE: ALLYPrA) were up 12 cents to close at $26.50 on volume of about 4.1 million shares.

Elsewhere in the finance space, Capital One’s 5% series I fixed-rate non-cumulative perpetual preferred stock declined.

The preferreds (NYSE: COFPrI) fell 3 cents to close at $25.28 with about 279,000 shares trading.

On Tuesday, the preferreds picked up 5 cents.

MetLife down

Insurance provider MetLife’s recent 4.75% series F non-cumulative preferreds saw weakness by the Wednesday close.

The preferreds, trading under the temporary symbol “METFL,” slipped 10 cents to close at $25.30 on volume of about 1 million shares.

On Tuesday, the preferreds rose 10 cents.

AT&T dives

Meanwhile, telecom services giant AT&T’s 5% series A perpetual preferred stock dived to lower levels.

The preferreds (NYSE: TPrA) slid 23 cents to close at $25.97 with about 604,000 shares trading.

On Tuesday, the preferreds gained 4 cents.

American Finance slips

Real estate investment trust American Finance’s 7.5% series A cumulative redeemable perpetual preferred stock was pushed lower.

The preferreds (Nasdaq: AFINP) shaved off 5 cents to close at $25.19 on volume of about 282,000 shares.

Indexes mixed

The Wells Fargo Hybrid & Preferred Securities Financial index finished the session down by 0.12%, doubling a 0.06% loss from early Wednesday trading.

The iShares US Preferred Stock ETF went unchanged at $37.98.

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