Armour cancels at-the-market deal; First Citizens tops par; AT&T preferreds decline

By James McCandless

San Antonio, March 6 – Capping off a volatile week, the preferred space saw blanket negativity as coronavirus worries persisted.

Late Friday, Armour Residential REIT, Inc. said that it terminated an agreement for a $225 million at-the-market offering of its 7.875% series B cumulative redeemable preferred stock.

Leading secondary activity, First Citizens BancShares, Inc.’s new $300 million 5.375% series A non-cumulative perpetual preferred stock closed above par.

Elsewhere in the finance space, Wells Fargo & Co.’s 6.625% series R fixed-to-floating rate non-cumulative perpetual class A preferred stock and its 4.75% series Z non-cumulative perpetual class A preferred stock both dipped.

Sector peer Capital One Financial Corp.’s 5% series I and 4.8% series J fixed-rate non-cumulative perpetual preferred stocks followed the market lower.

Meanwhile, telecom provider AT&T, Inc.’s 4.75% series C perpetual preferreds declined by the end of the session.

Oil and gas name NuStar Energy, LP’s 7.625% series B fixed-to-floating rate cumulative redeemable perpetual preferred units finished negative.

Armour nixed

Late Friday, Armour Residential announced that it has terminated an agreement for a $225 million at-the-market offering of its 7.875% series B cumulative redeemable preferred stock.

The move to terminate the agreement was reached between Armour, Armour Capital Management LP, Buckler Securities LLC and B. Riley FBR, Inc.

As of the termination date, the company had sold $47,843,000 of the preferreds.

First Citizens tops par

Leading Friday secondary activity, First Citizens’ new $300 million 5.375% series A non-cumulative perpetual preferred stock closed its first day above par.

The preferreds, trading under the temporary symbol “FCIZP,” were seen closing at $25.22 on volume of about 1.6 million shares.

The deal priced late Thursday.

Elsewhere in the finance space, Wells Fargo’s 6.625% series R fixed-to-floating rate non-cumulative perpetual class A preferred stock and its 4.75% series Z non-cumulative perpetual class A preferred stock both saw dips.

The series R preferreds (NYSE: WFCPrR) shed 19 cents to close at $27.90 with about 442,000 shares trading.

The series Z preferreds (NYSE: WFCPrZ) were docked 8 cents to close at $24.87 with about 383,000 shares trading.

On Thursday, the preferreds moved down 25 cents.

Sector peer Capital One’s 5% series I and 4.8% series J fixed-rate non-cumulative perpetual preferred stocks followed the market lower.

The series I preferreds (NYSE: COFPrI) lost 25 cents to close at $25.19 on volume of about 380,000 shares.

On Thursday, the preferreds dropped 19 cents.

The series J preferreds (NYSE: COFPrJ) fell 13 cents to close at $24.76 on volume of about 379,000 shares.

On Thursday, the preferreds shaved off 10 cents.

AT&T off

Meanwhile, telecom services provider AT&T’s 4.75% series C perpetual preferreds declined by the end of the session.

The preferreds (NYSE: TPrC) were pushed down 12 cents to close at $24.76 with about 490,000 shares trading.

On Thursday, the preferreds lost 18 cents.

NuStar lower

Oil and gas pipeline name NuStar’s 7.625% series B fixed-to-floating rate cumulative redeemable perpetual preferred units finished negative.

The preferreds (NYSE: NSPrB) slid 22 cents to close at $20.72 on volume of about on volume of about 327,000 shares.

Indexes down

The Wells Fargo Hybrid & Preferred Securities Financial index ended the week down by 0.93%, narrower than the 1.28% drop from early Friday trading.

The iShares US Preferred Stock ETF was down 49 cents to $36.36.

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