Basf (OTCMKTS:BASFY) Upgraded at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Basf (OTCMKTS:BASFY - Free Report) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research report report published on Thursday morning, Marketbeat.com reports.

Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Basf from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold".

Basf Price Performance

Shares of Basf stock traded up $0.07 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $13.46. The company's stock had a trading volume of 76,400 shares, compared to its average volume of 116,430. Basf has a one year low of $10.57 and a one year high of $14.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.83 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $12.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $12.40. The stock has a market cap of $48.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.52, a P/E/G ratio of 11.32 and a beta of 1.06.

Basf (OTCMKTS:BASFY - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $18.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.34 billion. Basf had a net margin of 1.13% and a return on equity of 8.20%. On average, analysts predict that Basf will post 0.83 EPS for the current year.

Basf Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th were issued a $0.4322 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 6th. Basf's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 191.30%.

Basf Company Profile

BASF SE operates as a chemical company worldwide. It operates through six segments: Chemicals, Materials, Industrial Solutions, Surface Technologies, Nutrition & Care, and Agricultural Solutions. The Chemicals segment provides petrochemicals and intermediates. The Materials segment offers advanced materials and their precursors for applications and systems comprising isocyanates, polyamides, and inorganic basic products, as well as specialties for plastics and plastics processing industries.