Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) Reaches New 1-Year High – What’s Next?

Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $42.70 and last traded at $42.15, with a volume of 35647 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $42.29.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GSL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Zacks Research raised Global Ship Lease from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Global Ship Lease in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Global Ship Lease in a research report on Friday, April 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price objective for the company. Wall Street Zen cut Global Ship Lease from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 14th. Finally, B. Riley Financial raised their price objective on Global Ship Lease from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $40.33.

Global Ship Lease Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $1.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 0.96. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $38.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.04 and a quick ratio of 2.00.

Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The shipping company reported $2.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $190.95 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $188.39 million. Global Ship Lease had a return on equity of 22.35% and a net margin of 54.33%.The firm’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Global Ship Lease, Inc. will post 9.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Ship Lease Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 24th were issued a dividend of $0.625 per share. This represents a $2.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 24th. Global Ship Lease’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Georgios Giannopoulos sold 7,692 shares of Global Ship Lease stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.51, for a total transaction of $296,218.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Institutional Trading of Global Ship Lease

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GSL. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Global Ship Lease by 407.4% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 170,769 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $5,984,000 after purchasing an additional 137,113 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in Global Ship Lease by 225.9% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 185,168 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $6,894,000 after acquiring an additional 128,351 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in Global Ship Lease by 111.6% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 221,510 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $6,800,000 after acquiring an additional 116,837 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its holdings 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. Finally, Royal Palms Capital LLC acquired a new position in Global Ship Lease in the 4th quarter valued at $3,665,000. 50.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Global Ship Lease Company Profile

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.