Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL) have been given an average rating of “Hold” by the five ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has given a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $40.3333.

GSL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Global Ship Lease in a report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Global Ship Lease from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 14th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Global Ship Lease from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, March 19th. B. Riley Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Global Ship Lease from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Global Ship Lease in a report on Friday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price objective on the stock.

Global Ship Lease Stock Up 2.1%

Shares of GSL opened at $38.45 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.96. Global Ship Lease has a 12-month low of $20.92 and a 12-month high of $41.40. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $38.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $35.58. The company has a current ratio of 2.04, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 5th. The shipping company reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $190.95 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $188.39 million. Global Ship Lease had a net margin of 54.33% and a return on equity of 22.35%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Global Ship Lease will post 9.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Ship Lease Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 24th were issued a $0.625 dividend. This represents a $2.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.5%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 24th. Global Ship Lease’s payout ratio is 21.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Global Ship Lease news, insider Georgios Giannopoulos sold 7,692 shares of Global Ship Lease stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.51, for a total value of $296,218.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 7.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Global Ship Lease

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Two Sigma Investments LP grew its position in Global Ship Lease by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 626,787 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $19,242,000 after acquiring an additional 16,188 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in Global Ship Lease by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 613,287 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $16,136,000 after acquiring an additional 31,047 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its position in Global Ship Lease by 23.4% in the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 567,442 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $17,420,000 after acquiring an additional 107,651 shares in the last quarter. CSM Advisors LLC grew its position in Global Ship Lease by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. CSM Advisors LLC now owns 446,060 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $15,629,000 after acquiring an additional 13,141 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its position in Global Ship Lease by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 331,619 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $11,620,000 after acquiring an additional 15,176 shares in the last quarter. 50.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.