British American Tobacco (NYSE:BTI) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

British American Tobacco p.l.c. (NYSE:BTI) shares gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $40.25, but opened at $41.50. British American Tobacco shares last traded at $41.42, with a volume of 1,399,744 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on BTI. StockNews.com upgraded British American Tobacco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 17th. UBS Group upgraded British American Tobacco from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th.

British American Tobacco Stock Up 3.8 %

The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market cap of $86.56 billion, a PE ratio of 8.58 and a beta of 0.38. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $40.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.69.

British American Tobacco Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.7491 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. British American Tobacco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 60.57%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital International Investors raised its stake in British American Tobacco by 17.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 38,873,006 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,411,179,000 after acquiring an additional 5,673,619 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in British American Tobacco by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 15,594,361 shares of the company’s stock worth $566,381,000 after buying an additional 47,439 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in British American Tobacco by 44.0% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,232,402 shares of the company’s stock worth $371,641,000 after buying an additional 3,127,046 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in British American Tobacco by 24.4% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,094,244 shares of the company’s stock valued at $221,343,000 after acquiring an additional 1,196,020 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of British American Tobacco by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 3,010,687 shares of the company’s stock valued at $109,348,000 after acquiring an additional 137,231 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 16.16% of the company’s stock.

British American Tobacco Company Profile

British American Tobacco p.l.c. engages in the provision of tobacco and nicotine products to consumers worldwide. It also offers vapour, heated, and modern oral nicotine products; combustible cigarettes; and traditional oral products, such as snus and moist snuff. The company offers its products under the Vuse, glo, Velo, Grizzly, Kodiak, Dunhill, Kent, Lucky Strike, Pall Mall, Rothmans, Camel, Natural American Spirit, Newport, Vogue, Viceroy, Kool, Peter Stuyvesant, Craven A, State Express 555 and Shuang Xi brands.