Mortgage giant Freddie Mac posts $4.2B profit in 2Q; paying $3.9B dividend to government

Mortgage giant Freddie Mac reported net income of $4.2 billion for the second quarter, up sharply from the same period of 2014, as it increased its purchases of home loans and sold off greater volumes of riskier mortgages.

The April-through-June results posted Tuesday marked the government-controlled company's 15th straight profitable quarter. Freddie also benefited from rising interest rates.

The McLean, Virginia, company will pay a dividend of $3.9 billion to the U.S. Treasury next month. Freddie will have paid $96.5 billion in dividends, exceeding its government bailout of $71 billion.

The government rescued Freddie and larger sibling Fannie Mae at the height of the financial crisis in September 2008, after they suffered huge losses from risky mortgages in the housing market bust.