Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at Jefferies Financial Group

Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued on Friday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on GSL. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Global Ship Lease from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 14th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Global Ship Lease in a research note on Tuesday. B. Riley Financial increased their price target on shares of Global Ship Lease from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Global Ship Lease from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Global Ship Lease presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $40.33.

Global Ship Lease Stock Up 2.1%

Shares of NYSE GSL opened at $38.45 on Friday. Global Ship Lease has a 12-month low of $20.92 and a 12-month high of $41.40. The stock has a market cap of $1.38 billion, a PE ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a current ratio of 2.04, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company has a 50-day moving average of $38.64 and a 200 day moving average of $35.62.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Global Ship Lease

In other news, insider Georgios Giannopoulos sold 7,692 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.51, for a total value of $296,218.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 7.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Global Ship Lease

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in GSL. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Global Ship Lease by 137.0% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 42,098 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $962,000 after acquiring an additional 24,333 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Global Ship Lease by 66.1% in the 2nd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 4,715 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $124,000 after acquiring an additional 1,877 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Global Ship Lease by 88.2% in the 2nd quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 51,616 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $1,358,000 after acquiring an additional 24,196 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Global Ship Lease by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 459,791 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $12,097,000 after acquiring an additional 20,819 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Global Ship Lease by 7.1% in the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 16,927 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $445,000 after acquiring an additional 1,127 shares during the last quarter. 50.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Global Ship Lease

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.