British American Tobacco (LON:BATS) Trading Down 8.8% - What's Next?

British American Tobacco p.l.c. (LON:BATS - Get Free Report) shares fell 8.8% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as GBX 3,058 ($38.58) and last traded at GBX 3,095 ($39.05). 7,627,224 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 74% from the average session volume of 29,680,900 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 3,394 ($42.82).

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a GBX 2,800 ($35.33) price objective on shares of British American Tobacco in a research note on Thursday, December 12th.

British American Tobacco Trading Down 2.1 %

The stock's 50-day simple moving average is GBX 3,026.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is GBX 2,873.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 74.63, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The firm has a market capitalization of £66.55 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.27.

British American Tobacco (LON:BATS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported GBX 364.30 ($4.60) earnings per share for the quarter. British American Tobacco had a negative net margin of 52.84% and a negative return on equity of 25.94%. Equities research analysts expect that British American Tobacco p.l.c. will post 361.5079365 EPS for the current year.

British American Tobacco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 19th were paid a GBX 58.88 ($0.74) dividend. This is a positive change from British American Tobacco's previous dividend of $57.72. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 19th. This represents a dividend yield of 2.54%. British American Tobacco's dividend payout ratio is -38.08%.

About British American Tobacco

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.