British American Tobacco (LON:BATS) Posts Earnings Results

British American Tobacco (LON:BATS) posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The company reported GBX 203.60 earnings per share for the quarter, Digital Look Earnings reports. British American Tobacco had a net margin of 30.23% and a return on equity of 16.33%.

British American Tobacco Trading Down 3.9%

Shares of British American Tobacco stock traded down GBX 186 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting GBX 4,554. 602,740,063 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,083,431. The stock has a market capitalization of £92.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.13. British American Tobacco has a twelve month low of GBX 3,677 and a twelve month high of GBX 5,368. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 74.60. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of GBX 4,584.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of GBX 4,465.63.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on BATS. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a GBX 5,750 price target on shares of British American Tobacco in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of GBX 4,758.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Tadeu Marroco bought 6,036 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 8th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of GBX 4,426 per share, with a total value of £267,153.36. Also, insider Serpil Timuray purchased 47 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was acquired at an average price of GBX 4,372 per share, with a total value of £2,054.84. In the last three months, insiders bought 11,506 shares of company stock valued at $50,267,032. Company insiders own 0.12% 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.