British American Tobacco p.l.c. (NYSE:BTI) Short Interest Down 35.5% in October

British American Tobacco p.l.c. (NYSE:BTI - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,000,000 shares, a decrease of 35.5% from the September 30th total of 7,750,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 5,380,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.9 days. Currently, 0.2% of the shares of the company are sold short.

British American Tobacco Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BTI traded down $0.18 during trading on Friday, hitting $34.47. 2,723,929 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,806,419. The company has a market cap of $76.56 billion, a PE ratio of 7.14 and a beta of 0.52. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $36.75 and a 200 day moving average of $33.53. British American Tobacco has a 52-week low of $28.25 and a 52-week 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on BTI. StockNews.com lowered British American Tobacco from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Sunday, August 11th. Barclays upgraded British American Tobacco to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded British American Tobacco from an "overweight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $33.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On British American Tobacco

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. O Brien Greene & Co. Inc raised its position in shares of 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 worth $529,000 after buying an additional 289 shares in the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust raised its position in shares of British American Tobacco by 11.0% in the third quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 3,176 shares of the company's stock worth $116,000 after buying an additional 314 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of British American Tobacco by 4.2% in the first quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 8,969 shares of the company's stock worth $274,000 after buying an additional 363 shares in the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust raised its position in shares of British American Tobacco by 1.8% in the third quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 21,211 shares of the company's stock worth $776,000 after buying an additional 376 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MADDEN SECURITIES Corp raised its position in shares of British American Tobacco by 1.3% in the third quarter. MADDEN SECURITIES Corp now owns 30,935 shares of the company's stock worth $1,132,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 21.44% of the company's stock.

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.