Altria Group Inc. (MO): Today's Featured Tobacco Laggard

Altria Group (MO) pushed the Tobacco industry lower today making it today's featured Tobacco laggard. The industry as a whole closed the day down 1%. By the end of trading, Altria Group fell 84 cents (-2.4%) to $34.95 on average volume. Throughout the day, 13.5 million shares of Altria Group exchanged hands as compared to its average daily volume of 11 million shares. The stock ranged in price between $34.88-$35.88 after having opened the day at $35.81 as compared to the previous trading day's close of $35.79. Another company within the Tobacco industry that decreased today was Lorillard (LO), down 2.6%.

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Altria Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of cigarettes, smokeless products, and wine in the United States and internationally. Altria Group has a market cap of $146.04 billion and is part of the consumer goods sector. The company has a P/E ratio of 16.6, below the average tobacco industry P/E ratio of 17.4 and below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Shares are up 21.1% year to date as of the close of trading on Monday. Currently there are seven analysts that rate Altria Group a buy, no analysts rate it a sell, and six rate it a hold.

TheStreet Ratings rates Altria Group as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, notable return on equity, solid stock price performance, compelling growth in net income and impressive record of earnings per share growth. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had generally poor debt management on most measures that we evaluated.

• You can view the full Altria Group Ratings Report.

• Use our tobacco section to find industry-relevant news.
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For investors not wanting singular stock exposure, ETFs may be of interest. Investors who are bullish on the tobacco industry could consider PowerShares Dynamic Food & Beverage (PBJ) while those bearish on the tobacco industry could consider PowerShares DB Agriculture Sht ETN (ADZ).

• Find other investment ideas from our top rated ETFs lists.

For more information on Altria Group Inc. click any of the following:

• Altria Group Inc. Stock Price

• Altria Group Inc. Analyst Ratings

• Altria Group Inc. Key Stats & Profile

• Altria Group Inc. Earnings

• Altria Group Inc. Ratio Comparison

• Altria Group Inc. Growth Rates

• Altria Group Inc. Balance Sheet

• Altria Group Inc. Cash Flow

• Altria Group Inc. Income Statement