Midday Commentary: Preferreds hold steady as week kicks off; Allstate planning fixed-rate deal

By Stephanie N. Rotondo

Phoenix, Feb. 24 - The preferred stock market was trading flat early in Monday's session, based on how the Wells Fargo Hybrid and Preferred Securities index was trading as of midday.

The Allstate Corp. added a deal to the new issue calendar, announcing an offering of series E noncumulative perpetual preferred stock.

Price talk is around 6.75%, according to a trader.

"They will probably tighten the yield, I'm guessing," he said.

In the gray market, the paper was already "doing well," with the trader seeing the preferreds around $24.75.

Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, BofA Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs & Co., J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, UBS Securities LLC and Wells Fargo Securities LLC leading the offering.

The Northbrook, Ill.-based insurance company intends to use the proceeds from the sale for general corporate purposes.

Meanwhile, Verizon Communications Inc.'s $500 million of 5.9% $25-par notes due 2054 are slated to be admitted to the New York Stock Exchange at midweek, according to a market source.

The deal came Jan. 30, and the expected ticker symbol is "VZA."

A trader saw that issue offered at $25.05 in early trades, though he speculated that "it's probably lower now."

Verizon is based in New York.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.