Moody's Investors Service cut the long-term senior debt rating of FMR LLC, parent of Fidelity Investments, from A1 to A2, noting FMR's high use of internal debt financing, the Wall Street Journal's Jennifer Levitz reported in the Tuesday edition of the Fund Track column. Moody's outlook on the rating is stable.

The ratings firm said Fidelity had gross debt of $8.3 billion at the end of last year. Of that number, $2.1 billion were owed to outside investors and the rest to employees and the Johnson family.

The report also quoted Moody's as saying that Fidelity's profit margins are "not meeting" expectations.

In an e-mailed statement to The MFWire, Fidelity spokeswoman Anne Crowley pointed out that the A2 rating "continues to be investment grade, at the 'upper-middle' level as defined by Moody’s."

Fidelity, she added, "is on solid financial footing. Our balance sheet remains very strong and we continue to invest significantly to further develop our businesses." 

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