Dallas, Texas 07/24/2013 (Financialstrend) – Altria Group Inc. (NYSE:MO) cigarette maker with famous Marlboro announced its second-quarter results where profit reported a increase of 3 percent, the profit rise is due to lower expenses and higher prices, the company earned $1.27 billion, or 63 cents per share comparing to $1.22 billion, or 60 cents a share in the same period last year. The sales of Cigarette fell 7 percent to 33.8 billion comparing to last year sales, company’s share in U.S market increased from .3 percentages to 50.7 percent. Marlboro brand had sales of the products at an average price of $5.78 per pack during the second quarter of the fiscal year, compared with cheapest brand offered at an average price of $4.30 per pack.
Altria Group Inc. announced on Tuesday that it is planning to launch its first electronic cigarette under the MarkTen brand in Indiana starting next month; Electronic cigarettes are battery-powered devices produces vapour that users inhale. The company decides to launch electronic cigarette as the cigarette industry pushes it to diversity for survival in the market, this sector has facing many troubles to sell its product due to smoking bans, social stigma, health concerns and tax hikes.
Altria Group Inc. (NYSE:MO) had closed on Tuesday with a price of $35.99 per share, which was observed to be a decline of 2.41% over its previous close. Through the trading session, the stock had set intraday low at $35.73 and intraday high at $37.01 per share. In the past 52 weeks, the company had touched bottoms at $30.01 and peaks at $37.61 per share. There are presently 2.01 billion outstanding shares in the market with 60% institutional holding and $72.29 billion market cap. On Tuesday, the stock had a trading volume of 13.16 million shares and average level of trading at 9.58 million shares per day.
