Short Interest in Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL) Rises By 26.9%

Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 889,200 shares, an increase of 26.9% from the February 13th total of 700,700 shares. Approximately 2.7% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 362,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of GSL. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Global Ship Lease by 6,856.5% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,600 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 1,577 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Global Ship Lease in the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Global Ship Lease during the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Global Ship Lease during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Finally, WealthCollab LLC raised its position in shares of Global Ship Lease by 64.1% during the 4th quarter. WealthCollab LLC now owns 2,615 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 1,021 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 50.08% of the company’s stock.

Global Ship Lease Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of Global Ship Lease stock traded down $0.31 during trading on Monday, hitting $22.94. The stock had a trading volume of 461,067 shares, compared to its average volume of 445,277. The stock has a market cap of $845.65 million, a PE ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.47. Global Ship Lease has a 12 month low of $19.22 and a 12 month high of $30.32. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $22.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.58.

Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 5th. The shipping company reported $2.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $182.43 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $170.71 million. Global Ship Lease had a net margin of 46.38% and a return on equity of 27.88%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Global Ship Lease will post 9.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Ship Lease Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. Global Ship Lease’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.50%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on GSL. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $29.00 target price on shares of Global Ship Lease in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Global Ship Lease from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th.

Global Ship Lease Company Profile

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.