Morgan Stanley: BHP's first-half earnings and dividends better than expected.

Morgan Stanley analyst Rahul Anand stated that BHP's first half performance exceeded market expectations, with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization and the mid-year dividend of the miner 2.2% and 22% higher than market average expectations, respectively. Anand mentioned, "With the support of asset sales, BHP has distributed approximately $800 million in additional dividends." He added, "Together with the recent infrastructure sale, today's silver sale will release $6 billion in cash, allowing the company to focus on shareholder returns and growth." Morgan Stanley has given BHP a rating of outperform with a target price of 55.50 Australian dollars.