Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Wednesday.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a buy rating and set a $29.00 target price on shares of Global Ship Lease in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Clarkson Capital upgraded Global Ship Lease from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th.

Global Ship Lease Stock Performance

GSL opened at $24.07 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $25.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $24.69. The company has a market capitalization of $847.02 million, a PE ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.60. Global Ship Lease has a 1 year low of $16.80 and a 1 year high of $30.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.36.

Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The shipping company reported $2.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $175.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $172.07 million. Global Ship Lease had a return on equity of 28.92% and a net margin of 46.90%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.09 EPS. Research analysts expect that Global Ship Lease will post 9.9 EPS for the current year.

Global Ship Lease Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Friday, August 23rd were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is an increase from Global Ship Lease’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 23rd. Global Ship Lease’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.95%.

Institutional Trading of Global Ship Lease

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. lifted its position in shares of Global Ship Lease by 62.0% during the 1st quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 2,533,701 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $51,434,000 after buying an additional 969,536 shares during the last quarter. Whitefort Capital Management LP lifted its position in shares of Global Ship Lease by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. Whitefort Capital Management LP now owns 1,977,224 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $40,138,000 after buying an additional 79,743 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Global Ship Lease by 3,779.3% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,508,898 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $43,406,000 after buying an additional 1,470,002 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in shares of Global Ship Lease by 275.5% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,068,524 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $30,763,000 after buying an additional 783,963 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in shares of Global Ship Lease by 97.9% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 557,050 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $16,037,000 after buying an additional 275,500 shares during the last quarter. 50.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.