Three preferred stock series issued by Costamare Inc., the Monaco-based containership and dry bulk shipping company, are trading above their $25 liquidation preference years after each became callable: a pattern that runs counter to how the broader preferred market typically treats redemption-eligible issues. Series D, the 8.75% cumulative perpetual preferred that has been callable since May 2020, last traded at $26.84, a premium of roughly 7.4% to par. Series C, at an 8.5% coupon, and Series B, at 7.625%, show similar structural traits as long-callable issues still commanding prices above their $25 face value.
The pattern first stood out in data tracked on Preferred Stock AI, a Madison Labs research site, where Series D's premium to par of 7.36% sits above the 6.0% average premium for its nine-issue peer category. In conventional preferred stock mechanics, once an issue passes its call date, the issuer can redeem shares at par ($25) at any time, which typically caps upside and pressures the security toward par or below: investors holding shares above $25 face a built-in risk that a call would return only the $25 liquidation preference, producing a capital loss relative to the purchase price. That dynamic is why many preferreds trading past their call windows settle into discounts rather than premiums.
Costamare's three series diverging from that pattern matters to preferred stock holders because it implies the market is pricing in a lower probability of near-term redemption than the coupon and call-date mechanics alone would suggest, though whether that view proves accurate rests entirely with the issuer's future capital allocation decisions, which Costamare has not disclosed publicly in connection with these securities. Series D carries a current yield of 8.15% on its $2.1875 annual dividend, paid quarterly and structured as cumulative, meaning any missed payments would need to be made up before common shareholders receive distributions. The stock's 52-week range spans $26.37 to $28.58, and recent trading volume for the issue was 12,572 shares.
Costamare, founded in 1974 as a private Greek shipping company and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2010, operates as an international owner and lessor of containerships and, through a separate platform, participates in the dry bulk shipping market. As of February 2026 the company operated a fleet of 79 containerships and 38 dry bulk vessels, chartering primarily to major liner companies and industrial cargo operators on long-term contracts. Series D was originally issued in May 2015, and its terms are set out in the company's SEC prospectus filing.
The premium pricing on Costamare's preferreds comes against a broader market backdrop in which fixed-income-adjacent instruments are being weighed alongside shifting interest-rate expectations. Coverage of Costamare's common stock (CMRE) has also been mixed in recent weeks: GuruFocus valuation commentary on August 26 pegged its GF Value at $9.30 against a $14.84 price, while Simply Wall St. published analysis on August 25 suggesting shares could be undervalued relative to the company's contracted charter revenue: both framed as third-party assessments of the common equity rather than the preferred series.
Going forward, market participants tracking these preferred issues are likely to watch for any formal redemption announcement from Costamare, since a call at any point would return holders only the $25 liquidation preference regardless of the premium price paid in the secondary market. Dividend continuity is another point of attention, given the cumulative structure and the quarterly payment history extending back through the issue's 2015 origination. Absent a specific redemption notice, the securities' current pricing reflects one point along a data record; how sustainably the premium holds against typical late-cycle preferred-market discounting will be a matter for continued observation as new dividend declarations and any call-related filings emerge.
Correction, September 14, 2026: An earlier version of this story described Series D's premium to par as a discount, described Costamare as Greek rather than Monaco-based, and included an offering size and a consumer-rate report that could not be verified.