American National Bank & Trust Purchases Shares of 2,000 British American Tobacco p.l.c. $BTI

American National Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of British American Tobacco p.l.c. (NYSE:BTI) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $95,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of British American Tobacco by 20.4% during the first quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 12,021,231 shares of the company’s stock worth $497,318,000 after purchasing an additional 2,040,011 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of British American Tobacco by 59.8% during the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 9,598,465 shares of the company’s stock worth $397,089,000 after purchasing an additional 3,590,916 shares during the period. Newport Trust Company LLC boosted its holdings in shares of British American Tobacco by 1.1% during the first quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC now owns 2,774,460 shares of the company’s stock worth $114,779,000 after purchasing an additional 31,205 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of British American Tobacco by 1.5% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,473,942 shares of the company’s stock worth $102,347,000 after purchasing an additional 35,926 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of British American Tobacco by 3.0% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,447,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,866,000 after purchasing an additional 42,531 shares during the period. 16.16% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on BTI shares. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of British American Tobacco in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of British American Tobacco in a research note on Friday, June 13th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $40.00 price target on shares of British American Tobacco in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of British American Tobacco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 26th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada downgraded shares of British American Tobacco from a “sector perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.00.

British American Tobacco Price Performance

BTI stock opened at $52.97 on Friday. British American Tobacco p.l.c. has a 1 year low of $34.17 and a 1 year high of $59.29. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $55.55 and a 200 day moving average of $48.36. The company has a market cap of $108.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.88, a PEG ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.55.

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.