Short Interest in Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL) Increases By 17.8%

Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL) saw a significant growth in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 808,259 shares, a growth of 17.8% from the March 31st total of 685,942 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 222,461 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.6 days. Approximately 2.4% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GSL has been the topic of several recent research reports. B. Riley Financial upped their price target on shares of Global Ship Lease from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Global Ship Lease in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Global Ship Lease in a research note on Friday, April 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price objective on the stock. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Global Ship Lease from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Global Ship Lease from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Global Ship Lease has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $40.33.

Global Ship Lease Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of GSL traded up $0.10 on Friday, hitting $40.50. 242,276 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 231,545. The company has a quick ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 0.96. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $38.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $35.89. Global Ship Lease has a 1 year low of $21.26 and a 1 year high of $41.40.

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 business had revenue of $190.95 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $188.39 million. The business’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Global Ship Lease will post 9.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Ship Lease Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 24th were given a dividend of $0.625 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 24th. This represents a $2.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.2%. Global Ship Lease’s dividend payout ratio is 21.95%.

Insider Activity

In other Global Ship Lease news, insider Georgios Giannopoulos sold 7,692 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.51, for a total value of $296,218.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 7.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Global Ship Lease

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Two Sigma Investments LP increased its position in Global Ship Lease by 2.7% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 626,787 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $19,242,000 after purchasing an additional 16,188 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in Global Ship Lease by 5.3% during the second quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 613,287 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $16,136,000 after purchasing an additional 31,047 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its position in Global Ship Lease by 23.4% during the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 567,442 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $17,420,000 after purchasing an additional 107,651 shares during the last quarter. CSM Advisors LLC increased its position in Global Ship Lease by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. CSM Advisors LLC now owns 446,060 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $15,629,000 after purchasing an additional 13,141 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position in Global Ship Lease by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 331,619 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $11,620,000 after purchasing an additional 15,176 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 (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.