HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 24,544 Shares of Global Net Lease, Inc. $GNL

HighTower Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in Global Net Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GNL) by 17.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 117,420 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 24,544 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC owned 0.05% of Global Net Lease worth $944,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in GNL. CoreCap Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Global Net Lease in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new stake in Global Net Lease in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. bought a new stake in Global Net Lease during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Global Net Lease during the fourth quarter worth about $73,000. Finally, Atlas Private Wealth Advisors bought a new stake in Global Net Lease during the first quarter worth about $85,000. Institutional investors own 61.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Edward M. Jr. Weil sold 150,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.61, for a total value of $1,141,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 584,053 shares in the company, valued at $4,444,643.33. This represents a 20.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Nicholas S. Schorsch sold 7,103,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.43, for a total transaction of $52,775,290.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 19,907,384 shares in the company, valued at $147,911,863.12. This represents a 26.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 7,553,000 shares of company stock worth $56,115,790 over the last quarter. 0.37% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on GNL shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Global Net Lease from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. KeyCorp raised shares of Global Net Lease from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $9.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Colliers Securities raised shares of Global Net Lease from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $12.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $9.00 price objective on shares of Global Net Lease in a research note on Thursday, June 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $9.20.

Global Net Lease Price Performance

Shares of GNL stock opened at $7.77 on Thursday. Global Net Lease, Inc. has a 1 year low of $6.51 and a 1 year high of $9.10. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $7.41 and its 200-day moving average is $7.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.39 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

Global Net Lease (NYSE:GNL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.04. Global Net Lease had a negative net margin of 43.75% and a negative return on equity of 9.71%. The company had revenue of $124.91 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $138.38 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Global Net Lease, Inc. will post 1.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Net Lease Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 11th were given a dividend of $0.19 per share. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 11th. Global Net Lease’s dividend payout ratio is presently -52.78%.

Global Net Lease Profile

Global Net Lease, Inc (NYSE: GNL) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust listed on the NYSE. The firm focused on acquiring a diversified global portfolio of commercial properties, with an emphasis on sale-leaseback transactions involving single tenant, mission critical income producing net-leased assets across the United States, Western and Northern Europe.