Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL) Stock Now Rated “Buy” by Wall Street Analysts

Shares of Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL) have received an average recommendation of “Buy” from the five ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $51.00.

GSL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Global Ship Lease from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. 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 research note on Thursday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen cut Global Ship Lease from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Zacks Research upgraded Global Ship Lease from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Global Ship Lease in a research note on Friday, July 17th.

Global Ship Lease Trading Down 1.4%

GSL opened at $43.72 on Tuesday. Global Ship Lease has a twelve month low of $27.28 and a twelve month high of $46.57. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $44.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.71. The company has a quick ratio of 2.06, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.88.

Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The shipping company reported $2.48 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.42 by $0.06. Global Ship Lease had a net margin of 49.10% and a return on equity of 19.92%. The firm had revenue of $198.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $186.85 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.67 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Global Ship Lease will post 9.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Ship Lease Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 21st were issued a dividend of $0.6250 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 21st. This represents a $2.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.7%. Global Ship Lease’s dividend payout ratio is 24.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Global Ship Lease

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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 15,934 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $705,238.84. This trade represents a 65.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Anastasios Psaropoulos sold 48,330 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.02, for a total value of $2,175,816.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 68,698 shares in the company, valued at $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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 80,000 shares of company stock worth $3,578,817.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Global Ship Lease

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of GSL. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Global Ship Lease in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. SHP Wealth Management acquired a new position in Global Ship Lease during the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Global Ship Lease by 49.4% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,579 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 522 shares during the period. Pinnacle Holdings LLC bought a new stake in shares of Global Ship Lease in the 2nd quarter valued at about $80,000. Finally, Ameritas Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Global Ship Lease in the 2nd quarter valued at about $103,000. Institutional investors own 50.08% of the company’s stock.

Global Ship Lease Company Profile

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.