Royal Bank Of Canada Reiterates "Sector Perform" Rating for British American Tobacco (LON:BATS)

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada has reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating for British American Tobacco, setting a price target of GBX 3,000, indicating a potential downside of 27.26% from its previous close.
• Analysts from JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank have also raised their target prices for the stock, with Deutsche Bank now rating it as a "buy" at GBX 4,400.
• The company's stock has shown a wide fluctuation over the past year, with a low of GBX 2,556.23 and a high of GBX 4,149, and it currently has an insider ownership of 10.55%.

British American Tobacco (LON:BATS - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "sector perform" rating reiterated by equities research analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada in a research note issued on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have a GBX 3,000 ($39.87) target price on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada's price objective would suggest a potential downside of 28.59% from the stock's previous close.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of British American Tobacco from GBX 2,800 ($37.21) to GBX 3,300 ($43.86) and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of British American Tobacco from GBX 4,200 ($55.82) to GBX 4,400 ($58.48) and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of British American Tobacco in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, British American Tobacco has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of GBX 3,960 ($52.63).

British American Tobacco Stock Up 0.4%

LON:BATS traded up GBX 17 ($0.23) during midday trading on Friday, hitting GBX 4,201 ($55.83). 17,323,410 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,630,751. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of GBX 3,640.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of GBX 3,323.87. British American Tobacco has a fifty-two week low of GBX 2,556.23 ($33.97) and a fifty-two week high of GBX 4,228 ($56.19). The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 74.63. The company has a market capitalization of £92.43 billion, a PE ratio of -6.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.27.

British American Tobacco (LON:BATS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported GBX 162.90 ($2.17) EPS for the quarter. British American Tobacco had a negative net margin of 52.84% and a negative return on equity of 25.94%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that British American Tobacco will post 361.5079365 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at British American Tobacco

In other news, insider Tadeu Marroco bought 206 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were acquired at an average price of GBX 3,379 ($44.91) per share, with a total value of £6,960.74 ($9,251.38). Insiders have bought a total of 829 shares of company stock valued at $2,751,446 over the last quarter. 10.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.