What Smart Money Thinks of British American Tobacco PLC (ADR) (BTI)?

Consequently, key money managers have been driving this bullishness. Driehaus Capital established the most valuable position in British American Tobacco PLC (ADR) (NYSEMKT:BTI) which had $15.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group also initiated a $3.2 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new BTI investors: Mike Vranos’ Ellington, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, and Robert B. Gillam’s McKinley Capital Management.

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as British American Tobacco PLC (ADR) (NYSEMKT:BTI) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Amgen, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN), TOTAL S.A. (ADR) (NYSE:TOT), Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD), and BP plc (ADR) (NYSE:BP). All of these stocks’ market caps match BTI’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 47 funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1.62 billion. That figure was $639 million in BTI’s case. Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand TOTAL S.A. (ADR) (NYSE:TOT) is the least popular one with only 14 bullish hedge fund positions. British American Tobacco PLC (ADR) (NYSEMKT:BTI) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.

Disclosure: None