UPDATE: Legg Mason Boosts Stake in Freddie Mac (FRE) to Nearly 80M Shares
More News related to FRE
- Freddie Mac Announces the Issuance of a New Three-Year Reference Notes(R) Security
- Freddie Mac Monthly Volume Summary: October 2009
- Freddie Mac Applauds Columbus, Ohio Coalition Against Loan Modification Fraud
- Charter Financial Reports Fiscal 2009 Earnings
- Freddie Mac Will Not Issue a Reference Notes(R) Security on November 16, 2009
In a 13G filing on Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE), Legg Mason disclosed a 12.35% stake (79,880,998 shares) in the company. A 13G indicates a passive investment. The firm held 50,244,068 shares at the quarter ended March 31, 2008.
The position makes Legg Mason the largest Freddie Mac shareholder.
Legg's Bill Miller is under-water big time in this position. He clearly sees value here after the 83% drop YTD. With nationalization talk growing daily, will he look like a bigger fool or a hero?
Freddie Mac engages in mortgage purchasing, credit guarantee, and portfolio investment activities in the United States.
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Comments
Legg Mason & Lehman Bros.
It is reported that Legg Mason Partner Aggressive Growth Fund is holding twelve million share of soon to be worthless Lehman Bros. shares. Makes one wonder what sort of due diligence 'Investment Guru" Bill Miller and his team actually does. Not only did they invest billions of investors money in pumped up home builder and financial stocks but they held them long after smart money should have bailed.
Legg Mason/Biller Miller
Legg Mason's Bill Miller's continued investment in Freddie Mac even in recent days appears to be the act of a desperate man. Like a loser at the casino doubling down in hopes of recouping his losses. Why anyone would have continued to hold or invest in Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac after the the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (or OFHEO), issued its 211 page report in 2004, wherein it concluded that Fannie Mae had a coprorate culture where "earnings manipulation" was "pervasive and willful" there were lax controls, perverse incentives, unjust bonuses. Then in May of 2006 the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused Fannie Mae of fraud and other misdeeds. Without admitting or denying wrongdoing, Fannie agreed to a $400 million settlement. That's right a FOUR HUNDRED MILLION DOLLAR ($400,000,000.00) fine. This was just over two years ago. Does this sound like a company anyone in their right mind would invest money in? Now that the chickens have finally come home to roost. It will be interesting to see if any Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac executives are indicted and or imprisoned now that Fannie Mae and Feeedie Mac seized by the U.S. Government. Probably not because these two companies have been run by executives and boards who were politically connected and appointed. When the average American taxpayer finds out how big this Fannie Mae and Feddie Mac financial debacle is and the fact that it got progressively worse since the OFHEO report in 2006, they will be outraged. The idea that our government is going to guarantee the bonds that were floated by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that back billions of dollars if not trillions of dollars of non-performing mortgages that were flipped to Fannie Mae and Freedie Mac by Wall Street is unconscionable. It is yet another example of how our government allowed Wall Street to privatised profits from public companies to its executives through bonuses, stock options, director fees etc. and now that these public companies financial schemes are collapsing our government has decided to socialize the losses to American tax payers. Privitizing profits socializing losses. That's the new game the U.S. Government is playing. Unfortunately for Legg Mason and/or Bill Miller the government is only going to save the bond holders.
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Legg Mason & Yahoo
Kevin Lamson on Sep 15, 2008 12:30 AMLEGG MASON’S/ BILL MILER INVESTORS ALSO LOST $750 MILLION DOLLARS IN YAHOO IN THE PAST 5 MONTHS. Stock-picking guru Bill Miller of Legg Mason support OF Yahoo!'s (YHOO) efforts to stay independent of Microsoft (MSFT) by refusing to accept its offer to buy the portal company for $29.17 a share has lost Legg Mason investors nearly $840 million dollars in the stock dropped to $19.00 per shares. Legg Mason Capital Management, Inc. and Legg Mason Value trust owned 56,575,000 and 18,754,000 shares in Yahoo respectively as of June 2008. In April of this year in the Wall Street Journal quoted Mr. Miller as saying that "the current value of Microsoft's offer" -- $29.17 per share as of 4 p.m. Nasdaq market trading Tuesday -- "is not something I'm too excited about." Legg Mason owned 7% of Yahoo!'s shares the and still does. Only they are now only worth $19.00 a share and no one seems to be offering more. Mr. Miller and Legg Mason also opposed Carl Ichans attempt