Tobacco

Philip Morris (NYSE: MO) said today a jury in Worcester, MA returned a verdict for the defense, holding that Marlboro cigarettes were not defectively designed and unreasonably dangerous. “We believe that the jury appropriately found that Marlboro cigarettes were not defectively designed and...

British American Tobacco Plc (AMEX: BTI) agreed to purchase the privately owned Productora Tabacalera de Colombia SAS (Protabaco) for $452 million. "This investment will strengthen and complement our position in an important market and fill a strategic gap in our Americas region," said Mark Cobben...

Deutsche Bank has a Hold rating and a $98 price target on shares of Lorillard (NYSE: LO). In a note to clients, Deutsche Bank writes, "TMA convention focused on challenge of becoming a highly-regulated industry, FDA still interpreting its mandate and no major decisions yet to show its disposition...

Lorillard, Inc. (NYSE: LO) announced today the declaration of a quarterly dividend on its common stock in the amount of $1.30 per share, payable on June 10, 2011 to stockholders of record as of June 1, 2011. The Company's Board of Directors also amended its existing $1.0 billion share repurchase...

Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM) shares are enjoying some success today, and are currently at their highs of the session. At last check, shares of the international cigarette company were up $1.09 to $70.37, a gain of 1.57%‎ on more than 4 million shares. The Switzerland-based company...

Despite the rebound in risky assets today, defensive names such as Altria (NYSE: MO), Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM) and Lorillard Inc. (NYSE: LO) are higher today. What do all these names have in common? All three are tobacco stocks, which have performed well this year, especially...

Morgan Stanley is out with its report today on Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM), reiterating Overweight. In a note to clients, Morgan Stanley writes, "Despite PM's exposure to a number of challenging international cigarette markets, our analysis of overall industry volume dynamics suggests...

Shares of defensive names like Altria (NYSE: MO), The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE: PG) and Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) are higher today, as the broader equity market appears to be in a correction. When the equity markets correct, defensive names, like the aforementioned, tend to...

Cognex (CGNX) is trading at a price of $34.86, a dramatic change of -0.97. Currently, the company has a Market capitalization (total value of a company in the stock market) of approximately 1.45B. Cognex is giving up its quarterly distributions by 13% to $0.09 a share. This is the third time over...

NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA), provider of visual computing technologies and the inventor of the graphics processing unit, is down 6.3% premarket to $19.22, relative to a 52-week range of $8.65-$26.17. Penson Worldwide (PNSN), provider of a range of critical securities and futures processing...

Millward Brown released its annual BrandZ study of the world's top 100 brands Monday. Below is the list: 1. Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) 2. Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) 3. IBM (NYSE: IBM) 4. McDonalds (NYSE: MCD) 5. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) 6. Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) 7. AT&T (NYSE: ATT) 8. Marlboro (NYSE: PM) 9...

Former New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies star Lenny Dykstra probably isn't having a good weekend. The former All-Star known as “Nails” was indicted on Friday on charges of bankruptcy fraud and selling stuff from his $18 million California mansion that had been foreclosed on. Dykstra, 48,...

George Clooney turns 50 on Friday, reminding men everywhere that it is possible to be desired by women across the globe, as long as you are amazingly talented, incredibly sexy, and wealthier than most royal families. With that in mind, Benzinga looks at five talented, wealthy, and — dare we say —...

As it happens this is the ideal week in which to discuss adding some defensive positions to your ETF portfolio and what better sector to do that with than consumer staples? Consumer staples aren't sexy, but they have risen to near legendary status as both shelter-from-the-storm and dividend plays...

Deutsche Bank has a Hold rating and a $98 price target on shares of Lorillard (NYSE: LO) following the company's Investor Day. In a note to investors, Deutsche Bank writes, "Mgmt. gave an aggressive but well-reasoned strategy to expand Newport into "adjacencies" and enhance profit, while...