Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) Director Sells $179,280.00 in Stock

Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL) Director Ulrike Helfer sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.82, for a total transaction of $179,280.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 8,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $381,104.46. This trade represents a 31.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Global Ship Lease Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GSL opened at $45.78 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $1.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.40 and a beta of 0.98. Global Ship Lease, Inc. has a twelve month low of $27.28 and a twelve month high of $46.57. 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 company has a 50 day moving average of $44.23 and a 200 day moving average of $40.91.

Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) last issued 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. The business had revenue of $198.69 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $186.85 million. Global Ship Lease had a return on equity of 19.92% and a net margin of 49.10%.The company’s revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.67 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Global Ship Lease, Inc. will post 9.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Ship Lease Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 21st were paid a dividend of $0.6250 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 21st. This represents a $2.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.5%. Global Ship Lease’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.04%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new position in Global Ship Lease during the 2nd quarter valued at about $389,000. Corient Private Wealth LP grew its position in Global Ship Lease by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 15,409 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $579,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Global Ship Lease in the 2nd quarter valued at $103,000. Secure Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Global Ship Lease in the second quarter worth $212,000. Finally, Navellier & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Global Ship Lease during the second quarter worth $1,857,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.08% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GSL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. B. Riley Financial raised their price target on shares of Global Ship Lease from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Global Ship Lease from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Global Ship Lease from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. 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 report on Friday, July 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $51.00.

About Global Ship Lease

Global Ship Lease, Inc (NYSE:GSL) is a containership owner and charterer that provides maritime transportation capacity to liner companies. The company owns and manages a fleet of container vessels designed to transport manufactured goods, consumer products, industrial materials and other containerized cargo across international trade routes.

Global Ship Lease generally employs time-charter arrangements, under which its vessels are leased to container shipping companies for specified periods.