StockNews.com Lowers Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) to Buy

StockNews.com lowered shares of Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Tuesday morning.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on GSL. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $29.00 price objective on shares of Global Ship Lease in a report on Monday, August 5th. Clarkson Capital upgraded shares of Global Ship Lease from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th.

Global Ship Lease Price Performance

NYSE GSL opened at $25.91 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $27.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $24.25. Global Ship Lease has a 52 week low of $16.80 and a 52 week high of $30.32. The stock has a market cap of $911.72 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The shipping company reported $2.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.19. Global Ship Lease had a return on equity of 29.44% and a net margin of 46.30%. The business had revenue of $175.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $172.07 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.09 EPS. Analysts forecast that Global Ship Lease will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Global Ship Lease Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Friday, August 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 23rd. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.95%. This is a boost from Global Ship Lease’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. Global Ship Lease’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.95%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Global Ship Lease

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GSL. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of Global Ship Lease by 87.6% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,024 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 945 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in Global Ship Lease during the second quarter worth approximately $88,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Global Ship Lease by 2,642.1% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,126 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $90,000 after buying an additional 3,012 shares during the last quarter. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Global Ship Lease in the second quarter valued at $107,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Global Ship Lease by 355.6% during the 2nd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 4,100 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $118,000 after acquiring an additional 3,200 shares during the last quarter. 50.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Global Ship Lease

Global Ship Lease, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in owning and chartering of containerships under fixed-rate charters to container shipping companies worldwide. As of March 11, 2024, it owned 68 mid-sized and smaller containerships, ranging from 2,207 to 11,040 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU), with an aggregate capacity of 375,406 TEU.