StockNews.com Lowers Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) to Buy

StockNews.com lowered shares of Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Tuesday morning.

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Global Ship Lease from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, May 16th.

Global Ship Lease Stock Performance

Shares of GSL stock opened at $28.49 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $25.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $22.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.24. Global Ship Lease has a one year low of $16.80 and a one year high of $30.32. The firm has a market cap of $1.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 1.64.

Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 16th. The shipping company reported $2.53 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.34 by $0.19. Global Ship Lease had a net margin of 46.30% and a return on equity of 29.44%. The firm had revenue of $179.56 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $170.70 million. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Global Ship Lease will post 9.61 EPS for the current year.

Global Ship Lease Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, May 24th were paid a dividend of $0.375 per share. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.27%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 23rd. Global Ship Lease’s payout ratio is currently 16.95%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Global Ship Lease

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Whittier Trust Co. purchased a new stake in Global Ship Lease during the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Signaturefd LLC increased its position in shares of Global Ship Lease by 87.6% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,024 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 945 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its position in shares of Global Ship Lease by 150.2% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 7,186 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $142,000 after purchasing an additional 4,314 shares during the last quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Global Ship Lease in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $172,000. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Global Ship Lease in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $201,000. 50.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Global Ship Lease

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.