BAT Cancels New Tranche of Shares After Buyback, Trimming Free Float

British American Tobacco ( (GB:BATS) ) just unveiled an announcement.

British American Tobacco has repurchased 94,239 ordinary shares as part of its ongoing share buyback programme, executed through Banco Santander on 24 February 2026 at a volume‑weighted average price of 4,573.4571 pence. The company plans to cancel these shares, leaving 2,175,015,370 ordinary shares in issue with voting rights and 132,976,327 shares held in treasury, a move that marginally reduces the free float and supports capital-return efforts to shareholders.

The latest tranche of buybacks underscores BAT’s commitment to returning excess cash to investors while actively managing its capital structure. For shareholders, the reduced number of outstanding voting shares can provide a slight boost to earnings per share over time, while the detailed disclosure of trading data ensures compliance with U.K. market abuse and transparency regulations.

The most recent analyst rating on (GB:BATS) stock is a Sell with a £3600.00 price target. To see the full list of analyst forecasts on British American Tobacco stock, see the GB:BATS Stock Forecast page.

Spark’s Take on GB:BATS Stock

According to Spark, TipRanks’ AI Analyst, GB:BATS is a Outperform.

The score is driven primarily by solid-but-not-clean financial performance (profitability strength offset by leverage and a notable 2025 cash-flow decline). Valuation is supportive due to the high dividend yield and moderate P/E, while technicals are broadly neutral. Earnings-call guidance and capital-return plans help, but are tempered by vapor/illicit pressures and regional weakness.

To see Spark’s full report on GB:BATS stock, click here.

More about British American Tobacco

British American Tobacco is a global tobacco group and one of the largest cigarette and nicotine-products manufacturers, with its shares listed on the London Stock Exchange. The company focuses on traditional combustible tobacco products as well as newer categories of reduced-risk and alternative nicotine offerings in major international markets.

Average Trading Volume: 4,114,950

Technical Sentiment Signal: Buy

Current Market Cap: £98.8B

See more data about BATS stock on TipRanks’ Stock Analysis page.