British American Tobacco (NYSE:BTI) Upgraded at Barclays

British American Tobacco (NYSE:BTI) was upgraded by equities researchers at Barclays to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on BTI. StockNews.com cut British American Tobacco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, August 11th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of British American Tobacco from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $33.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Thursday, October 3rd.

British American Tobacco Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of BTI stock opened at $34.50 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $36.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.31. British American Tobacco has a 52-week low of $28.25 and a 52-week high of $39.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.62 billion, a PE ratio of 7.14 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.88.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On British American Tobacco

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of British American Tobacco by 29.9% during the 2nd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 2,667,339 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,501,000 after acquiring an additional 614,634 shares during the last quarter. Kize Capital LP bought a new position in British American Tobacco during the second quarter valued at $10,826,000. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC increased its holdings in shares of British American Tobacco by 384.5% in the 2nd quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 327,007 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,114,000 after buying an additional 259,509 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of British American Tobacco by 42.5% during the 1st quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 722,462 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,035,000 after buying an additional 215,305 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of British American Tobacco in the 2nd quarter valued at about $6,153,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 21.44% of the company’s stock.

About British American Tobacco

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.