Facebook gets first downgrade since January, shares fall as much as 1.7%

the cost of protecting against declines in Facebook shares are at the lowest level since February, before the Cambridge Analytica scandal roiled the stock in March

Shares of Facebook fell Wednesday after the stock got its first downgrade since January. Research firm OTR Global cut its rating to mixed versus positive amid concern that year-over-year growth in advertisement spending moderated in the first quarter of 2018.

The last downgrade of the stock prior to OTR was made by Stifel Nicolaus & Co’s Scott Devitt in January, before the scandal involving Cambridge Analytica. The company’s first-quarter ad spending will likely rise 19 to 24 per cent year-over-year in the first quarter, versus a gain of as much as 30 per cent in the fourth quarter, OTR