British American Tobacco p.l.c. (NYSE:BTI) Short Interest Up 101.4% in June

British American Tobacco p.l.c. (NYSE:BTI) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,950,000 shares, a growth of 101.4% from the May 31st total of 3,450,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 4,410,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.6 days. Approximately 0.3% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Trading of British American Tobacco

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BTI. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in British American Tobacco by 38.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 15,316,688 shares of the company’s stock valued at $448,625,000 after acquiring an additional 4,259,548 shares in the last quarter. Prevatt Capital Ltd bought a new position in British American Tobacco in the 4th quarter worth approximately $23,432,000. FMR LLC boosted its position in British American Tobacco by 40.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,497,162 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,026,000 after buying an additional 433,252 shares during the last quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd increased its stake in shares of British American Tobacco by 40.1% in the 4th quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd now owns 1,394,129 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,834,000 after buying an additional 399,359 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of British American Tobacco by 24.8% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,845,788 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,063,000 after acquiring an additional 366,692 shares during the last quarter. 21.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of British American Tobacco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 6th.

British American Tobacco Price Performance

BTI stock opened at $30.93 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $30.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.17. British American Tobacco has a fifty-two week low of $28.25 and a fifty-two week high of $34.28.

About British American Tobacco

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.