Investors Buy High Volume of Call Options on British American Tobacco (NYSE:BTI)

British American Tobacco p.l.c. (NYSE:BTI - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading on Thursday. Traders purchased 181,297 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 2,212% compared to the average daily volume of 7,842 call options.

Institutional Trading of British American Tobacco

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BTI. O Brien Greene & Co. Inc increased its stake in British American Tobacco by 1.7% in the second quarter. O Brien Greene & Co. Inc now owns 17,102 shares of the company's stock valued at $529,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. First City Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of British American Tobacco by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. First City Capital Management Inc. now owns 10,890 shares of the company's stock valued at $398,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust grew its position in shares of British American Tobacco by 11.0% in the 3rd quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 3,176 shares of the company's stock valued at $116,000 after buying an additional 314 shares during the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust lifted its position in British American Tobacco by 1.8% in the third quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 21,211 shares of the company's stock valued at $776,000 after acquiring an additional 376 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MADDEN SECURITIES Corp boosted its stake in British American Tobacco by 1.3% in the third quarter. MADDEN SECURITIES Corp now owns 30,935 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,132,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. 16.16% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on BTI shares. Barclays raised British American Tobacco to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com lowered shares of British American Tobacco from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of British American Tobacco from an "overweight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $33.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd.

British American Tobacco Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of BTI stock traded down $0.13 on Thursday, hitting $36.87. The stock had a trading volume of 3,762,435 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,704,001. The company's 50 day moving average price is $36.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.25. British American Tobacco has a 1 year low of $28.25 and a 1 year high of $39.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.70 and a beta of 0.53.

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.