Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) Sets New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $43.92 and last traded at $43.2860, with a volume of 11685 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $43.60.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GSL. Zacks Research raised shares of Global Ship Lease from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Global Ship Lease in a report on Friday, July 17th. Fearnley Fonds upgraded Global Ship Lease from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Global Ship Lease in a research report on Friday, April 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Global Ship Lease from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Global Ship Lease currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $46.50.

Global Ship Lease Stock Up 2.7%

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 2.21 and a current ratio of 2.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.23 and a beta of 0.90.

Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 22nd. The shipping company reported $2.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.40 by $0.16. Global Ship Lease had a return on equity of 21.11% and a net margin of 50.01%.The company had revenue of $198.08 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $182.87 million. The company’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Global Ship Lease, Inc. will post 9.5 EPS for the current year.

Global Ship Lease Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 22nd were given a dividend of $0.625 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 22nd. This represents a $2.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.6%. Global Ship Lease’s payout ratio is 23.74%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Global Ship Lease

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Global Ship Lease by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 21,269 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $792,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. BankChampaign National Association acquired a new position in Global Ship Lease during the first quarter worth $829,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Global Ship Lease by 174.5% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 74,854 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $2,787,000 after buying an additional 47,589 shares during the last quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC raised its position in Global Ship Lease by 11.4% during the first quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC now owns 19,905 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $741,000 after acquiring an additional 2,035 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Global Ship Lease by 49.4% during 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 50.08% of the company’s stock.

About Global Ship Lease

Global Ship Lease (NYSE: GSL) is a Bermuda-based containership charter owner focused on acquiring, owning and leasing modern, fuel-efficient vessels to major liner operators. Founded in 2011 and listed on the New York Stock Exchange the same year, the company’s fleet primarily comprises post-Panamax containerships designed to serve the high-volume Asia–Europe and transpacific shipping lanes. By specializing in long-term charter agreements, Global Ship Lease aims to maintain stable revenue streams and minimize spot-market volatility.

The company’s business model centers on negotiating multi-year time charters with leading global shipping lines.