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LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Two of Countrywide Financial Corp.'s largest shareholders said in regulatory filings Monday that they have cut their stakes in the mortgage lender, which has slashed jobs and borrowed billions of dollars to stay in business. Both AllianceBernstein LP, once the largest stakeholder in Countrywide, and Barclays Global Investors NA cut their stakes in Countrywide by more than half this summer. The investment firms dumped shares as Countrywide's stock plummeted while credit markets tightened and mortgage defaults rose. AllianceBernstein reported owning 63.8 million shares, or 10.7 percent of Countrywide's outstanding stock, on July 31. But it cut that stake to 23.8 million shares, or roughly 4.1 percent of the outstanding stock, this month, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. AllianceBernstein is a majority owned subsidiary of French financial services company AXA Financial Inc., which filed the SEC report. In a separate SEC filing, San Francisco-based investment bank Barclays Global Investors NA said it had reduced its stake in Countrywide to 24.04 million shares, or roughly 4.1 percent of outstanding stock. The bank previously owned 48.6 million shares, or 8.4 percent of the outstanding stock, as of June 30. Also Monday, Legg Mason Capital Management Inc. reported in an SEC filing that it boosted its stake in Countrywide to 53.4 million shares, or 9.2 percent of outstanding stock, up from 50.3 million shares, or 8.7 percent of outstanding stock, as of June 30. LMM LLC, an affiliated company, raised its stake in Countrywide to 4.5 million shares, or 0.79 percent of outstanding shares, according to the filing. Countrywide shares have plunged from a 52-week high of $45.26 in January to a low of $15 in mid-August. Shares fell $1, or 5.49 percent, to $17.21 on Monday. Countrywide has been struggling as the housing slump led to a sharp rise in mortgage defaults and foreclosures, particularly among borrowers with subprime loans. The mortgage fallout has left many lenders strapped for money to fund new loans. In recent weeks, Countrywide borrowed $11.5 billion and sold a $2 billion stake to Bank of America so it could keep operating its retail banking and mortgage lending businesses. The company said last week it would cut as many as 12,000 jobs. Previously announced cuts involved 1,400 jobs.
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