Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) Reaches New 52-Week High – Here’s What Happened

Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $31.05 and last traded at $31.26, with a volume of 36724 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $30.89.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on GSL. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $33.00 price target on shares of Global Ship Lease in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Clarkson Capital cut shares of Global Ship Lease from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $28.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Global Ship Lease from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $30.50.

Global Ship Lease Trading Up 1.6%

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 1.94. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $28.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $25.15.

Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The shipping company reported $2.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.52. Global Ship Lease had a net margin of 53.09% and a return on equity of 24.81%. The firm had revenue of $191.86 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $177.98 million. As a group, analysts forecast that Global Ship Lease, Inc. will post 9.74 EPS for the current year.

Global Ship Lease Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 22nd were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 22nd. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.7%. Global Ship Lease’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.50%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Global Ship Lease

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GSL. Stifel Financial Corp acquired a new stake in Global Ship Lease in the fourth quarter worth $342,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Global Ship Lease by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 92,003 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $2,008,000 after purchasing an additional 2,373 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in Global Ship Lease by 18.2% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 54,594 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $1,192,000 after purchasing an additional 8,415 shares during the period. Vident Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Global Ship Lease by 23.5% in the fourth quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 42,522 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $928,000 after purchasing an additional 8,098 shares during the period. Finally, Whitefort Capital Management LP raised its holdings in Global Ship Lease by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Whitefort Capital Management LP now owns 369,768 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $8,072,000 after purchasing an additional 2,997 shares during the period. 50.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.