Marlboro maker Altria's 4Q profit more than doubles

” Marlboro maker Altria Group Inc.’s profit more than doubled in the fourth quarter on higher cigarette prices and lower costs for paying down debt. The owner of the nation’s biggest cigarette maker, Philip Morris USA, said Friday the number of cigarettes it shipped fell nearly 2 percent to more than 31 billion cigarettes, but its share of the U.S. retail market rose 0.1 percentage points to 50.9 percent.