British American Tobacco (BTI) Shares Upgraded by Credit Suisse (CS) to “Outperform”

British American Tobacco (NYSE: BTI) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS) from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

Separately, analysts at RBS (LON: RBS) upgraded shares of British American Tobacco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note to investors on Monday, June 20th. Also, analysts at Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of British American Tobacco from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note to investors on Wednesday, June 8th.

British American Tobacco plc is a holding company that owns, directly or indirectly, investments in the numerous companies constituting the British American Tobacco Group of companies. Its brand portfolio includes Dunhill, Kent, Lucky Strike and Pall Mall. Dunhill sells in approximately 120 countries. 41 billion Dunhill cigarettes were sold during the year ended December 31, 2009. Kent is sold in more than 70 countries. Lucky Strike’s markets incude Germany, Spain, Japan, France, Italy, Argentina and Chile. Pall Mall offers a range of cigarette and make-your-own products. On June 17, 2009, it acquired 85% stake in Indonesia’s cigarette maker PT Bentoel Internasional Investama Tbk.

Shares of British American Tobacco traded up 0.15% during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $87.658. British American Tobacco has a 52 week low of $72.54 and a 52 week high of $95.35. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $89.50 and its 200-day moving average is $86.64. The company has a market cap of $86.845 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.14.