Morning Commentary: Argo Group on tap; AT&T preferreds diverge; Bank of America active

By James McCandless

San Antonio, July 7 – The preferred space opened lower early Tuesday as the Wells Fargo Hybrid & Preferred Securities Financial index started down by 0.10%.

In the primary market, Argo Group International Holdings, Ltd. plans to price an offering of $25-par series A resettable fixed-rate preference shares.

Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, BofA Securities, Inc., Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, UBS Securities LLC and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC are the bookrunners.

The dividend is resettable on Sept. 15, 2025 and every five years thereafter.

The preferreds are redeemable on or after Sept. 15, 2025 at par. Prior to that, the preferreds are redeemable after a change in tax law, a capital disqualification event or a ratings agency event at par. They are also redeemable after a change in Bermuda law at $26.00 per share.

Leading early secondary activity, AT&T Inc.’s 4.75% series C perpetual preferred stock and its 5% series A cumulative perpetual preferred stock were moving in different directions.

The series C preferreds (NYSE: TPrC) were up 4 cents to $24.32 on volume of about 43,000 shares.

The series A preferreds (NYSE: TPrA) were off 2 cents to $25.64 on volume of about 33,000 shares trading.

Meanwhile, in the finance space, Bank of America Corp.’s 5% series LL non-cumulative preferred stock was saw early activity.

The preferreds (NYSE: BACPrN) dipped 1 cent to $25.54 with about 43,000 shares trading.

Sector peer Heartland Financial USA, Inc.’s 7% series E fixed-rate reset non-cumulative perpetual preferreds were pushing higher.

The preferreds (Nasdaq: HTLFP) were adding 8 cents to $25.19 on volume of about 29,000 shares.

Insurance carrier Allstate Corp.’s 5.1% series H fixed-rate non-cumulative perpetual preferred stock was moving along the negative trend.

The preferreds (NYSE: ALLPrH) were down 10 cents to $25.65 with about 39,000 shares trading.

Elsewhere, in communications, Qwest Corp.’s 6.5% notes due 2056 started the session with a modest loss while its 6.875% notes due 2054 were relatively active but unchanged so far.

The 6.5% notes (NYSE: CTBB) were off by 1 cent to $23.73 on volume of about 26,000 notes.

The 6.875% notes (NYSE: CTV) were holding level at $25.17 on volume of about 26,000 notes.

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