British American Tobacco p.l.c. (LON:BATS) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

British American Tobacco p.l.c. (LON:BATS) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the six research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has assigned a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is GBX 4,858.33.

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a GBX 5,750 price objective on shares of British American Tobacco in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on British American Tobacco from GBX 3,600 to GBX 3,800 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and set a GBX 5,100 target price on shares of British American Tobacco in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of British American Tobacco from GBX 5,200 to GBX 5,500 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd.

British American Tobacco Stock Performance

BATS stock opened at GBX 4,131 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is GBX 4,502.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is GBX 4,471.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 72.48. British American Tobacco has a 12-month low of GBX 3,677 and a 12-month high of GBX 5,368. The stock has a market capitalization of £89.10 billion, a PE ratio of 14.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.13.

British American Tobacco (LON:BATS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported GBX 203.60 EPS for the quarter. British American Tobacco had a return on equity of 13.38% and a net margin of 24.99%. As a group, research analysts forecast that British American Tobacco will post 361.5079365 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at British American Tobacco

In related news, insider Matthew Wright bought 5,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of GBX 4,500 per share, for a total transaction of £247,500. Also, insider Serpil Timuray purchased 47 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of GBX 4,372 per share, for a total transaction of £2,054.84. Insiders have purchased a total of 10,941 shares of company stock worth $48,149,884 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

British American Tobacco Company Profile

BAT was founded in 1902 and was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1912. A constituent of the FTSE 100 since its creation in 1984, we have evolved, becoming the only truly global company in our sector.

BAT is transforming and is well positioned with a global footprint and multi-category portfolio. Our corporate purpose is to build A Better Tomorrow™, reducing the health impact of our business, by offering adult consumers a greater choice of enjoyable and less risky*† products compared to cigarettes.