Methods and apparatus are provided for enhanced instruction handling in processing environments. If branch misprediction occurs during instruction processing, a branch history table may be updated based upon the number of instructions to be fetched. The branch history table may be updated in accordance with a first mode if at least two instructions are available, and may be updated in accordance with a second mode if less than two instructions are available. A compiler can assist the processing by aligning instructions for processing. The instructions can be aligned across multiple instruction fetch groups so that instructions are available for fetching and the branch history table is updated prior to performing a branching operation.