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iShares S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index ETF

5/24/2013, 4:43 AM ET

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Saturday, May 4, 8:43 AM Do you know what's in your preferred stock ETF? The PowerShares Financial Preferred Portfolio (PGF) has nearly all holdings in perpetual preferreds - fixed yields with no maturity dates, thus particularly vulnerable to rising rates. The iShares Preferred Stock ETF (PFF) has just 45%. Mutual preferred funds, though more expensive, might offer even better protection against higher rates - they're able to participate in the OTC market where much of the action in floating-rate preferreds takes place. 4 Comments
Wednesday, May 1, 2:53 PM iShares S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index ETF (PFF) announces monthly distribution of $0.1728. For shareholders of record May 03. Payable May 07. Ex-div date May 01. Comment! [Dividends]
Monday, April 1, 4:56 PM iShares S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index ETF (PFF) announces monthly distribution of $0.175. For shareholders of record Apr. 03. Payable Apr. 05. Ex-div date Apr. 01. 1 Comment [Dividends]
Friday, March 1, 9:55 AM iShares S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index ETF (PFF) announces monthly distribution of $0.100. 30-day SEC yield of 5.54%. For shareholders of record Mar. 05. Payable Mar. 07. Ex-div date Mar. 01. 14 Comments [Dividends]
Wednesday, February 13, 7:14 PM First Trust's new actively managed Preferred Securities and Income ETF FPE began trading Tuesday. FPE tries to generate income through holding preferred securities and income-producing debt securities, such as corporate bonds, high-yield securities and convertibles. This gives investors yield-generating options as an alternative route to the low interest rates in Treasury bonds. FPE comes with a high expense ratio of 0.85% compared to PFF (0.48%), PFXF (0.40%), SPFF (0.58%), PSK (0.45%), PGX (0.50%) and IPFF (0.55%). (PR) 1 Comment
Monday, January 28, 11:00 AM Bank debt is back with lenders' paper set to overtake that of industrial companies as the safest in the U.S. corporate bond market for the first time since the financial crisis. Investors are currently demanding just 16 bps more premium over a benchmark from banks, compared to 365 bps 4 years ago. Comment! [Financials]
Sunday, January 6, 8:56 AM While the preferred stock (PFF) led the income pack in 2012 with a total return of 18.2%, the current risk-reward profile isn't great, says Barclays' Shobhit Gupta, with the upside capped by the issuer call option, and significant downside if rates rise. One overlooked class for investors: Convertible Bonds (CWB). Barron's overview of the income sector. 26 Comments [Quick Ideas]
Tuesday, January 1, 10:52 AM Small-cap dividend ETFs (DES, DLS, DFE, DGS, DFJ, EES) led the pack in 2012 performance domestically and globally, followed by mid-caps (DON, DIM, EZM) and large-caps (DLN, DOL, EPS). Among strategy-based ETFs, it was preferreds (PGF, PFF) and buybacks (PKW) that outperformed. See here for full dividend ETF performance data. 2 Comments [Dividends, Quick Ideas]
Friday, November 16, 2012, 9:48 AM Another blow against the income-seekers, Capital One (COF) announces it will redeem $3.65B of trust preferred securities. The high-cost paper is in the process of being called by most financials as it will no longer by allowed to count towards capital buffers. (PR) 3 Comments [Financials]
Wednesday, November 14, 2012, 4:26 PM Where'a an income investor to turn? Citigroup (C) calls away another series of trust preferred securities, these the 7.875% Enhanced TRUPS. Banks have been busily redeeming this high-cost paper as new rules no longer allow it to be counted in capital calculations. (PR) 1 Comment [Financials]
Monday, October 22, 2012, 1:07 PM "The fundamentals haven't changed, but the prices certainly have," says fund manager Mark Egan, explaining why he recently sold Bank of America (BAC) bonds yielding 3% that he had picked up last year when they were yielding 8%. He notes the great balance sheets of the financials mean good times for bondholders, but not so much for the owners of the common stock.
6 Comments [Financials, Quick Ideas]
Friday, October 12, 2012, 3:18 PM Don't say you weren't warned. Seventy-five percent of the preferred market is trading above par, according to BAML, and nearly the entire market is callable. 3 Comments [Financials]
Tuesday, October 9, 2012, 11:31 AM Preferred stock investors aren't happy about banks buying back their trust preferred shares before the call date and often at face value (despite them trading at premiums), but new capital rules - "a capital treatment event" - allow the lenders to do so. Bank of America (BAC), says JPMorgan's Vivek Juneja, is likely to see the biggest benefit to its bottom line. 11 Comments [Financials]
Thursday, September 27, 2012, 3:18 PM Despite preferred stocks having had a great run relative to Treasurys this year, Michael Gayed sees plenty more upside. The ratio of the preferred share ETF (PFF) to the long Treasury ETF (TLT) has moved up, but has a long way to go before getting near the levels of just 18 months ago. Comment! [Quick Ideas]
Monday, August 20, 2012, 3:49 PM The hunt for yield: A JPMorgan (JPM) plan to issue $500M in preferred stock is scrapped in favor of a $1.1B sale. The shares were priced to yield 5.5% vs. an expected range of 5.5-5.625%. The bank wrote last week (via Michael Sedacca) it was seeing evidence the search for yield was spilling over into dividend/preferred stocks. Indeed. 5 Comments [Financials]
Tuesday, August 14, 2012, 11:51 AM Yield-hungry investors grasping for supply get some, Capital One (COF) raising the amount of a preferred stock sale to $875M from $250M originally planned. The coupon is 6% and the issue is callable in 5 years. Comment! [Financials]