Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) Stock Breaks Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL) crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday. The stock has a 200-day moving average of $40.75 and traded as high as $44.33. Global Ship Lease shares last traded at $44.0410, with a volume of 290,691 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on GSL shares. B. Riley Financial lifted their price target on Global Ship Lease from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Global Ship Lease in a report on Friday, July 17th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Global Ship Lease from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Global Ship Lease from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Global Ship Lease from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $51.00.

Global Ship Lease Trading Up 3.0%

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $44.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $40.80. The company has a current ratio of 2.13, a quick ratio of 2.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company has a market capitalization of $1.63 billion, a PE ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.88.

Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The shipping company reported $2.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.42 by $0.06. Global Ship Lease had a return on equity of 19.92% and a net margin of 49.10%.The company had revenue of $198.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $186.85 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.67 EPS. Global Ship Lease’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Global Ship Lease, Inc. will post 9.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Ship Lease Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 21st were given a $0.6250 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 21st. This represents a $2.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.5%. Global Ship Lease’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Thomas Lister sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.26, for a total transaction of $1,327,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,934 shares in the company, valued at $705,238.84. This trade represents a 65.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Anastasios Psaropoulos sold 48,330 shares of Global Ship Lease stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.02, for a total transaction of $2,175,816.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 68,698 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,092,783.96. This represents a 41.30% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 80,000 shares of company stock valued at $3,578,817 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Global Ship Lease during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. SHP Wealth Management bought a new position in Global Ship Lease in the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Global Ship Lease by 49.4% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,579 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 522 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Holdings LLC acquired a new position in Global Ship Lease in the second quarter valued at approximately $80,000. Finally, Ameritas Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Global Ship Lease during the second quarter valued at approximately $103,000. 50.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Global Ship Lease

Global Ship Lease, Inc (NYSE: GSL) is a container vessel owner and charterer that provides seaborne transportation capacity to container shipping companies. The company owns and manages a fleet of containerships used to transport manufactured goods, consumer products, raw materials and other cargo in containers.

Global Ship Lease generally charters its vessels to liner companies under fixed-rate time charter agreements. Its customers operate the ships on international trade routes, while Global Ship Lease focuses on vessel ownership, commercial employment, technical management and maintaining the fleet.