Chicken Soup to sell more preferreds; Hartford’s preferreds end above par; JPMorgan up

By James McCandless

San Antonio, Oct. 31 – The preferred market’s attention was fixed on a new issue from Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc., which topped par on its debut in secondary trading.

Hartford Financial Services’ new $300 million 6% series G non-cumulative perpetual preferred stock ended north of par.

Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc. plans to sell more of its $25-par series A cumulative redeemable perpetual preferred stock with a 9.75% dividend at par.

In the financial space, JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s 5.75% series DD non-cumulative preferred stock improved.

Bank of America Corp.’s 5.875% series HH non-cumulative preferred stock and Citigroup, Inc.’s 7.125% series J fixed-to-floating rate non-cumulative preferreds were also rising.

Natural gas transportation company Energy Transfer Partners, LP’s 7.375% series C fixed-to-floating rate preferreds traded up.

Chicken Soup on tap

Chicken Soup for the Soul plans to sell more of its $25-par series A cumulative redeemable perpetual preferred stock with a 9.75% dividend at par.

There are 780,497 of the preferred shares outstanding.

Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Inc. is the bookrunner.

The preferreds are redeemable on or after June 27, 2023 at par. Prior to that, they will be redeemable within 120 days of a change of control.

The existing preferreds (Nasdaq: CSSEP) were up 36 cents at Wednesday’s close to $25.50.

Hartford above par

Hartford’s new $300 million 6% series G non-cumulative perpetual preferred stock ended its first session above par, leading activity.

The preferreds, trading under the temporary symbol “HIGJL,” ended the day at $25.08 on volume of about 2.1 million shares.

The deal priced on Tuesday.

JPMorgan rises

Meanwhile, JPMorgan’s 5.75% series DD non-cumulative preferred stock improved, leading secondary financial trading.

The preferreds (NYSE: JPMPrD) were up 6 cents to close at $24.88 with about 688,000 shares trading.

On Tuesday, the preferreds rose 1 cent.

Elsewhere in the financial space, Bank of America’s 5.875% series HH non-cumulative preferred stock also rose.

The preferreds (NYSE: BACPrK) were up 8 cents to close at $24.92 on volume of about 358,000 shares.

Citigroup’s 7.125% series J fixed-to-floating rate non-cumulative preferreds also improved.

The preferreds (NYSE: CPrJ) were up 15 cents to close at $27.26 with about 323,000 shares trading.

Energy Transfer positive

In the energy sector, Energy Transfer’s 7.375% series C fixed-to-floating rate preferreds joined the market’s upward trend.

The preferreds (NYSE: ETPPrC) were up 4 cents to close at $25.05 on volume of about 235,000 shares.

Indexes up

The Wells Fargo Hybrid & Preferred Securities Financial index was up 0.12% at the end of the session, pushing past a 0.08% gain early Wednesday.

The iShares US Preferred Stock ETF was up 3 cents to $36.14.

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