British American Tobacco p.l.c. (NYSE:BTI) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.74

British American Tobacco p.l.c. (NYSE:BTI) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, February 17th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 30th will be paid a dividend of 0.7391 per share on Monday, February 9th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.77%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 30th.

British American Tobacco has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.4% per year over the last three years. British American Tobacco has a payout ratio of 60.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect British American Tobacco to earn $4.99 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 60.1%.

British American Tobacco Price Performance

Shares of BTI opened at $38.05 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $37.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. British American Tobacco has a fifty-two week low of $28.25 and a fifty-two week high of $42.74.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on BTI. UBS Group raised shares of British American Tobacco from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com raised shares of British American Tobacco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday.

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.