StockNews.com Upgrades Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) to “Strong-Buy”

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning.

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group restated a buy rating and set a $25.00 price objective on shares of Global Ship Lease in a research note on Monday, March 4th.

Global Ship Lease Price Performance

GSL stock opened at $21.39 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.05. Global Ship Lease has a 1 year low of $16.80 and a 1 year high of $21.94. The firm has a market cap of $752.71 million, a P/E ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.50. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $19.44.

Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, March 4th. The shipping company reported $2.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.15. Global Ship Lease had a return on equity of 29.87% and a net margin of 45.12%. The business had revenue of $178.89 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $171.54 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.14 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Global Ship Lease will post 9.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Ship Lease Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.375 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.01%. Global Ship Lease’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.01%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Global Ship Lease

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GSL. Whitefort Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in Global Ship Lease by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. Whitefort Capital Management LP now owns 2,058,898 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $39,943,000 after buying an additional 81,610 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Global Ship Lease by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,027,684 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $37,188,000 after buying an additional 115,043 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Global Ship Lease by 7,347.7% during the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,017,197 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $33,324,000 after buying an additional 1,990,112 shares during the last quarter. Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Global Ship Lease by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,916,621 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $35,917,000 after buying an additional 36,695 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Donald Smith & CO. Inc. lifted its holdings in Global Ship Lease by 235.9% during the 4th quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 1,564,165 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $31,002,000 after buying an additional 1,098,558 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.08% of the company’s stock.

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.