Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) Downgraded to Strong Sell Rating by Zacks Research

Zacks Research cut shares of Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a report released on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on GSL. B. Riley Financial upped their price objective on shares of Global Ship Lease from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Global Ship Lease in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Global Ship Lease in a research report on Friday, April 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price objective for the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Global Ship Lease from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 30th. Finally, Fearnley Fonds upgraded Global Ship Lease from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.50.

Global Ship Lease Price Performance

GSL opened at $37.89 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.21, a current ratio of 2.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Global Ship Lease has a 12 month low of $25.11 and a 12 month high of $42.70. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.44. The stock has a market cap of $1.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.92.

Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 22nd. The shipping company reported $2.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.40 by $0.16. Global Ship Lease had a net margin of 50.01% and a return on equity of 21.11%. The business had revenue of $198.08 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $182.87 million. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Global Ship Lease will post 9.5 EPS for the current year.

Global Ship Lease Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 22nd were issued a $0.625 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 22nd. This represents a $2.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.6%. Global Ship Lease’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Global Ship Lease

In other news, insider Georgios Giannopoulos sold 7,692 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.51, for a total value of $296,218.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 7.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Global Ship Lease

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Two Sigma Investments LP grew its holdings in shares of Global Ship Lease by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 626,787 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $19,242,000 after acquiring an additional 16,188 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Global Ship Lease by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 613,287 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $16,136,000 after acquiring an additional 31,047 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Global Ship Lease by 23.4% in the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 567,442 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $17,420,000 after acquiring an additional 107,651 shares in the last quarter. CSM Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Global Ship Lease by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. CSM Advisors LLC now owns 446,060 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $15,629,000 after acquiring an additional 13,141 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP acquired a new stake in Global Ship Lease in the 1st quarter valued at about $12,681,000. Institutional investors own 50.08% of the company’s stock.

Global Ship Lease Company Profile

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.