How much am I likely to get when my preferred stock reaches maturity?

If there is a buyback requirement on some company's preferred stock (this is the first time I've ever heard of that), the payout comes from the company's bank account, not from the stock market. A stock that's trading at $1.50 per share either doesn't have a near-term $25 buyback requirement or the market has no faith in the company's ability to actually buy back the stock.

Most preferred stocks are perpetual, issued at $25 with a 5 year call date and no maturity date. There are $50, $100, $1,000 as well as a few odd priced issues but they are a minority. If the company chooses to call an issue (they are not required to do so), then they are obligated to pay you the issue price unless stated otherwise in the prospectus.

There are different types of preferred stocks as well as ETFs. They can be Cumulative, Non-Cumulative, Participating, Non-Participating, Convertible, Non-Convertible, Callable, and Perpetual. Some have floating rates, tied to SOFR (formerly tied to LIBOR). Some have 15% tax rates. There is no one size fits all for preferred stocks.

Yes, it makes sense for a company to call a $25 stock if it is trading above par. Lower interest rates have driven share price up which means that the company can refinance at a lower rate.

If a preferred stock is trading at $1.50, it's because share price has been pummeled due to some serious fundamental problem with the company. Examples of this were Citigroup and Lehman. Lehman went under whereas Citigroup issues traded near $1 but then recovered when the market recovered, most of which have since been called at par.

QuantumOnline has a list almost 25 years of called issues - free sign up. It's a valuable tool for preferred stock information.

There aren't many books available about preferred stocks nor is there great depth. The best of the bunch is PREFERRED STOCK INVESTING - Fifth Edition by Doug K. Le Du. It's a worthwhile read for someone new to this topic. A free copy is available at:

https://www.preferredstockinvesting.com/free-book-offer.htm

Tim McPartland runs a free web site which offers good resources with a lot of really knowledgeable people contribute, some who have been brokers, money managers, etc. Much of it is over my head but when I have technical questions, they know the answers. There's no agenda there other than sharing information.

https://innovativeincomeinvestor.com/

McPartland's site has a number of spreadsheets that contain an abundance of details about each preferred. For example:

https://innovativeincomeinvestor.com/25-share-master-list-income-securities/

Last of all, you can bump up the annual return from preferred stocks by swapping out appreciated issues, but that's a different story.

Firstly, preferred shares are completely separate from common shares and their prices are not linked.

Secondly, preferred shares are treated more like bonds, which pay dividends and can (but generally do not) have a maturity in which they pay the face value of the share (regardless of market prices, but see below). The "typically" in your quote is based on how preferred shares are usually structured, not that the company has options and "typically" does one thing.

Finally, the value of a preferred share is dependent on the amount of the dividend that is paid, and the face value due at maturity (if any), adjusted by the probability that the company chooses not to pay the dividend or cannot pay the face value.

So if a preferred share is valued particularly low (e.g. $1.50), that means the market thinks that the company will likely reduce the dividend or default on the face value, both of which would be very strong negative signals.

If a preferred share trades for more than face value, it means that the company is paying a higher dividend than other preferred shares (similar to bonds with higher coupons trading at a premium to their face value).

The market treats preferred shares more link bonds that perpetually pay a coupon, and less like common that is more directly linked with the future earnings of a company.