Berkshire Hathaway Sells 794,388 Shares Of Moody's
04 September 2009 - 1:41PM
Dow Jones News
For the second time in as many months, Warren Buffett's
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRKA) has cut its stake in Moody's Corp.
(MCO).
Buffett's latest reduction of 794,388 shares came in multiple
sales conducted on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to a Securities
and Exchange filing Thursday.
Buffett sold the shares at prices ranging from $26.30 to
$27.74.
Buffett cut his Moody's stake by 8 million shares in mid-July,
reducing his stake to about 40 million shares. He said at the time
that he might decide to sell more shares.
Buffett has weathered criticism in the past year for his stake
in Moody's, which owns Moody's Investors Service, one of the
ratings agencies that has been criticized for the top grades it
issued to mortgage-backed securities that later underperformed.
Moody's has been walloped in part by the drop in new debt issues
requiring ratings.
Shares of Moody's were down 7.5% in pre-market trading at
$24.15.
-By Lavonne Kuykendall, Dow Jones Newswires; (312) 750 4141;
lavonne.kuykendall@dowjones.com